SEA-ME-WE-6 arrives in the middle of 20

The grave reality of Bangladesh running out of internet bandwidth as early as 2023 may just grow more stark, as the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) is keeping everyone in the dark on how this crisis will be solved.

This is an alarming scenario as BSCCL is the national bandwidth provider.

It is an international long-distance communications and international internet gateway (IIG) operator that provides various telecommunications services through the submarine cable network based in Bangladesh.

Sources say the problem will be solved after the country’s third submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-6 arrives in the middle of 2024, but after the current bandwidth validity runs out by 2022, Bangladesh just may have to look at the bleak prospect of two years without any bandwidth.

Bandwidth usage increased about 20-25% because people are using the internet for 6-8 hours a day amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the average of which was about 2 hours before the outbreak. This growing demand for internet usage will continue and is also consuming huge volumes of bandwidth, said Imdadul Haque, director of Optimax Communication, an IIG operator.

Even though the crisis is looming, BSCCL is yet to say how they will address it, he lamented.