AGARTALA, July 4 (TIWN): Agartala is going to be the third international internet gateway for India after Mumbai and Chennai, said Chief General Manager NE-I Circle D P Singh here on Saturday while interacting with media on the occasion of celebration of Digital India Week. Singh said, optical fiber cable from Agartala will get connected with 10 gigabit bandwidth of Bangladesh at Akhaura and through Dhaka it will be connected at submarine telecom cable in Cox's Bazar of South Bangladesh. This connectivity will facilitate northeastern states to be connected with reliable global tele-network, which will provide high speed and uninterrupted telecommunication expected by next six months. Singh said, “The Agartala Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP) would be the center point to connect the India and Bangladesh telecom bandwidth.” However, after several persuasions and complexity the Telecom Ministry tied a nod to the historical service by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) recently. Initially BSNL will lease 10 Gbps bandwidth from Bangladesh’s lone submarine cable operator, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL). A fiber cable line from Cox's Bazar landing station through Akhaura under Brahmanbaria district to Agartala, capital of Tripura will carry this bandwidth.He however, indicated that Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad would launch the Indo-Bangladesh bandwidth connectivity program Agartala next week. “BSNL is actively engaged to the work which is expected to be completed by next six months," Singh added.

He also said that the state government here had also highly supported the improvement of telecom connection. In last year Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar written  to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alternative telecom routing through Akhaura (in Bangladesh) to Agartala for improving telecommunication facilities in the North-eastern region.

Bangladesh government agreeing to the India’s proposal for setting up the connectivity the North eastern state Tripura would soon be the international gateway through Bangladesh for the rest of the South East Asian Countries.

Singh assumed that Rs 8 crore would be required every year for the 10Gbps telecom connectivity which is expected to cater the need of entire east and north Indian states. 

The Govt. of India and his Bangladesh counterpart had signed the agreement of telecom connectivity on June 5 this year with an aim to boost bilateral relations between the two countries and develop a strong telecom network in Southeast Asia.