AGARTALA, Dec 19 (TIWN): The much awaited dream of Tripura to emerge as the third Internet Gateway after Mumbai and Chennai is not far away as BSNL DGM (CFA) U C Bhowmick said that the formal inauguration of the internet bandwidth is likely to be held in January 2016. Optical fibre laying work is underway in full swing and is expected that the work will be completed by January 2016. Talking to TIWN, DGM (CFA) U.C. Bhowmick said that the optical fibre work is carried out in faster speed and if the work continues in such pace the formal inauguration for the internet bandwidth will be done in the month of January 2016. He further said that the heavy machineries and equipments are already catered to state via Guwahati from abroad and work is underway. The much waited project of Internet Bandwidth from Bangladesh’s submarine cable for the upgradation of the internet services of the State seems to get connected in few days as the authority is busy in laying the submarine cable line up to Aukhaura.India and Bangladesh signed pact on sharing Internet bandwidth as a result of which the submarine cable providing Net to Bangladesh will travel to Agartala from Cox's Bazar via Brahmanbaria.

Once the internet bandwidth is inaugurated, Agartala, Tripura's capital city, would be the third international internet gateway in India after Mumbai and Chennai.

On the historic day of June 2015 India-Bangladesh surplus under-sea internet bandwidth (10 Gbps) sale agreement was signed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s at  Dhaka in presence of Hon. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.

 And accordingly Bangladesh has  also agreed to sell off its unused submarine Internet bandwidth to India's state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for $ 1.2 million (Rs 7.7 crores) a year.

The agreement is initially signed for four years and India will gain 10 Gbps (gigabits per second) bandwidth in the first year with a provision for this to go up to 40 Gbps per second in the subsequent years. India is going for purchasing this surplus unused bandwidth from Bangladesh to develop the IT industry in Northeast.

Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad laid the foundation stone for the international internet gateway through Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Fast internet facility and for the development of the region the High bandwidth Internet is a must for survival of every sector of IT Industry as it needs to connect to worldwide over Internet 24x7 365 days a year.