Political instability in Bangladesh is affecting internet connectivity in India. Recent reports indicate that there is a proposal to halt a project aimed at providing faster internet to seven northeastern states of India. This initiative would have brought high-speed internet from Singapore into India, passing through Bangladesh at a location called Akhaura, with the involvement of Bharti Airtel.
Last year, two Bangladeshi companies, Summit Communications and Fiber@Home, had applied to Bangladesh's telecommunications authority (BTRC) for permission to supply this internet connection. They intended to use the Akhaura border to facilitate the service to India. Initially, the BTRC also sought approval from the telecommunications ministry in Bangladesh for this plan.
However, the BTRC has recently decided to reject this proposal, arguing that allowing bandwidth to flow to India could undermine Bangladesh’s ambitions to become a regional internet center. According to Mohammed Emdad ul Bari, the BTRC chairman, moving forward with the project would hinder Bangladesh’s ability to provide internet services to parts of Myanmar and northwestern China using its own network.
Additionally, the regulator expressed concerns that the companies involved in this project have close ties to the Awami League party, which has been led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Right now, the internet in the Northeast region of India is linked to Singapore through special undersea cables that connect in Chennai. The plan that was put on hold aimed to reduce the distance that internet data has to travel. This change would have made internet access in the Northeast faster and more reliable.
In other news, the Consumer Affairs Secretary, Nidhi Khare, recently announced that new rules will soon be introduced to help protect people from unwanted spam calls and messages. Earlier this year, in June, the Department of Consumer Affairs shared some initial ideas to address the issue of annoying promotional calls and texts. Khare mentioned that the department has been actively working on this problem and has been in discussion with different groups, including those in the telecom industry.
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