BANGLADESH

Nation's internet service providers have urged the government to restrict international terrestrial cable (ITC) services from providing services other than transmission.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) said the information communication technology (ICT) industry would lose its balance if the companies were allowed provide other services as well.

The government on Sep 13 permitted six companies, Novocom Limited, Asis-AHL JV, BD Link Communication Ltd, Mango Teleservices Ltd, Summit Communications Ltd and Fibre@Home Ltd, for laying terrestrial cables in Bangladesh.

Under the licence, the companies will be able to connect with the neighbouring countries through terrestrial fibre-optic cables. The country currently has only one connection to be with the international internet gateway.

Under a licencing guideline published on Mar 31, the telecom regulatory body had announced it would issue three licences at most. Later, however, it cleared six companies, saying a healthy competition would keep bandwidth prices low.

ISPAB president Akhteruzzaman Manju said the vital initiative of issuing ITC licences may fail if the policy is not corrected immediately.

The ISPs also demanded that Bangladesh be connected to a second submarine cable with delay.

They recommended that ITC companies should provide connections to divisional headquarters and Dhaka, and be required to connect all district headquarters within a given time.

The providers also suggested that they be allowed to take ITC connections directly, since IIGs (International Internet Gateway) are situated in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Manju also said the ILTDS policy introduced during the last caretaker government should be amended as it was full of confusions. The policy concerns VoIP services.