Shyama Prasad
Bepari[1]
Targhibul
Islam[2]
Introduction
South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation
(SASEC) Information Highway Project aims for cross- border optical fibre connectivity
among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. The project was initiated with Asian
Development Bank (ADB)’s assistance following the SASEC ICT Working Group meeting
decision in 2006. Bangladesh government signed a loan agreement with ADB on 15
March 2009 to finance the SASEC Information Highway Project (Bangladesh
Component). The project has three components: 1) SASEC Regional Network: An optical fibre network across Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India and Nepal will be built to exchange internet and voice traffic
among the four countries and beyond. Bangladesh Telecommunications Company
Limited (BTCL) will build and maintain the network in Bangladesh. 2) SASEC Village Network: 25 (twenty five)
community electronic centres (CeCs) will established in rural Bangladesh. The
CeCs will be connected to the regional network. 3) SASEC Research and Training Network: Capacity building of four
institutes from the four SASEC countries will be done to facilitate ICT
research and training with a special focus on community ICT centres in rural
areas. Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) has been selected as the RTN institute
from Bangladesh. The four RTN institutes of four countries will be connected to
each other through the regional network.
The first two components are financed by ADB
loan and GoB fund while the third component will be financed through piggybacked
Technical Assistance (TA) fund from ADB. The ADB loan amount for the Bangladesh
component is US$ 3.1m and GoB fund is BDT 895.95 lakh. The TA amount is US$
4.4m for the four SASEC countries.
This article discusses about the Regional
Network component of SASEC Information Highway Project.
Regional Vs Subregional Cooperation
Regional cooperation is not a new concept.
ASEAN, SAARC and ECO are examples of the forums for regional cooperation in
Asia. However, regional forums sometimes become not much effective in terms of
cooperation in real sense due to geographical distance and/or political divide.
For example, the first SAARC Communications Ministers Conference held in
Colombo in 1998, adopted the Plan of Action on Telecommunications in the
region. The Plan of Action calls for a reduction in telecommunication tariffs
within the SAARC region, special rates for transiting regional traffic,
cellular roaming, liberalized leased lines and human resources development.
However, no appreciable progress has been made on these important issues till
date. Subregional cooperation, on the other hand, involves a group countries in
geographical proximity with common or nearby international borders. Slow multilateral
and regional processes help to spur subregional cooperation, which is more
effective in dealing with immediate problems. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal
are close neighbours with potential for effective subregional cooperation in
areas such as trade, energy, transport, environment and ICT. The mission of
SASEC is “From poverty to growth—transforming challenges into opportunities”. The lead
activity of the SASEC program is the identification, prioritization, and
implementation of subregional projects involving four countries with support
from development partners such as Asian Development Bank.
SASEC ICT Program and Strategy
The SASEC ICT Working Group (ICTWG),
comprising of secretaries of ministry of ICT of SASEC countries, agreed to
develop SASEC ICT Development Master Plan (the Master Plan) at the first ICTWG meeting held in India in
March 2004, to lay down the strategy, framework and priorities for SASEC
ICT regional cooperation. The Master Plan, prepared with ADB assistance and
accepted at the second SASEC ICTWG held in Bhutan in January 2006, formulated the SASEC regional ICT strategy in a way to coordinate and
consolidate individual countries’ national leadership, vision, and strategies,
and identified the following common areas: (i) global positioning of the SASEC
subregion in ICT; (ii) regional opportunities for ICT professionals and local
ICT industry development; (iii) skills training, accreditation and mutual
recognition; (iv) regional affordable
broadband capacity, reliability, and quality; (v) investment, regional trade
and employment; (vi) cross-border community participation and benefits; and
(vii) contribution to the achievement of MDGs.
In all SASEC countries, there is a
considerable recognition of the benefits of broadband capacity and a growing
awareness of the issues and opportunities emerging from convergence. The
regulatory environment for each SASEC member varies substantially but all
members have recognized the need for independent regulatory authorities to
oversee the opening up of ICT infrastructure to competition. The need to foster
local ICT industry development has also been a common agenda. There are other
considerations as well, including for example the structure and governance of
the internet and the global positioning of the region. There is also a common
recognition to the need for skills development at all levels, including on the
one hand community e-literacy, and on the other hand accredited graduate
qualifications. Further all SASEC members have identified extensive
requirements for service applications, including for government services, such
as e-education, e-health and e-culture as well as the potential for new
governance structures to improve community participation. All members have also
recognized the need for either new institutions or enhanced capacity and course
offerings of existing training institutions. These
common interests and policies define a broad scope for priority areas of
collaboration and regional ICT development strategy in the Master Plan.
Among others, the Master Plan, along the
regional ICT strategy, proposed three most urgent areas for improvements in
ICT: (i) cross border connectivity, (ii) rural information access, and (iii)
human resource capacity. At the third ICTWG meeting held in Dhaka in September
2006, in order to address such needs, the SASEC countries agreed to develop the
concept of SASEC information highway which would deliver modern affordable and
reliable broadband information, communication, and knowledge services within
and across borders to business, and to the rural and remote communities. During
the implementation of an ADB-approved project preparatory TA on SASEC
information highway in 2007, the concept of SASEC information highway has been
crystallized and related investment package has been formulated and agreed by
the SASEC ICTWG. The SASEC Country Advisors’ Meeting held in June 2007 and
participated by secretaries of ministry of finance of the SASEC countries also
endorsed the concept, and thus further processing, of the SASEC information
highway project.
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of SASEC Regional Networkrk
Fig. 2 Geographical location of SASEC Information Highway
SASEC Regional Network (Bangladesh Component): Technical Design
The Bangladesh component of the SASEC Regional
Network mainly consists of a core IP Router, four numbers of new multi service
optical transmission nodes and a part of the existing transmission network of
BTCL. The core router will be installed at Moghbazar, Dhaka and will function
as the Gateway router for connecting other IP networks of Bangladesh and the
other gateway routers of SASEC Regional Network to be installed at different
places of India, Nepal and Bhutan. The core routers will be MPLS enabled
and will have both PoS (STM-1/STM-4) and Ethernet (GE and FE) interfaces.
Besides the core router, there will be an aggregation switch at Moghbazar.
Also, there will be a NMS, a Bandwidth Management Gateway and Operation Support
System (OSS) at Moghbazar for ease of operation and maintenance.
Core Router at Moghbazar will have the
provision to connect the SASEC Community E-Centers (CeCs) and SASEC Research & Training
Network (RTN). These SASEC CeCs and SASEC RTN will be established as part of the
SASEC project.
For transportation of IP traffic between
Panchagarh and Dhaka, and between Panchagarh and Shiliguri, two numbers of
Multi Service optical transmission equipment (MSPP) will be required, one for
Panchagarh and the other for Thakurgaon. To provision an alternate path for the
IP traffic between Dhaka router and the Shiliguri Router of the SASEC Regional
network two additional MSPP will be required, one of which will be installed at
Chuadanga and the other at Meherpur. The initial capacity of these transmission
equipments will be STM-16 but can easily be upgraded to STM-64 capacity. From
Dhaka to Dinajpur and Dhaka to Kushtia, BTCL has optical transmission system of
STM-16 or higher capacity. The existing optical transmission link of BTCL in
Dinajpur-Thakurgaon-Panchagarh and Kushtia-Meherpur-Chuadanga routes are of
STM-1 capacity. BTCL have enough fibers in the above mentioned routes. Hence,
the STM-16 optical transmission equipment proposed for Thakurgaon, Panchagarh,
Chuadanga and Meherpur will operate over the fibers of BTCL. For connecting the
optical transmission equipment of Panchagarh to Shiliguri, India, around 56 km
OF cable will be laid from Panchagarh BTCL station to Indian border at
Banglabandha. There is optic fiber cable connectivity between Chuadanga and
Kolkata which is operated by BTCL in Bangladesh and BSNL in India. There will
be STM-1/STM-4 PoS and GE interfaces in the router to be installed at Dhaka to
connect the routers at India, Nepal and Bhutan.
The transmission equipment at Thakurgaon will provide STM-16
connectivity for the Panchagarh transmission equipment and to the BTCL’s
existing optical transmission equipment at Dinajpur. Similarly, the
transmission equipment at Meherpur will provide STM-16 connectivity for the
Chuadanga transmission equipment and to the BTCL’s existing optical transmission equipment
at Kushtia.
Fig. 3 Technical diagram of SASEC Regional
Network (Bangladesh Component)
Present
status of SASEC Information Highway Project
a. Regional Network: Bilateral
Interconnection Agreements under SASEC Information Highway project were signed
by four SASEC countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) on 26 April, 2012
at ADB headquarters in Manila, Philippines. On behalf of Bangladesh
Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), the service agency from Bangladesh,
Mr. Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, company secretary of BTCL, signed the agreements.
The Bangladesh delegation was headed by Mr. Shyama Prasad Bepari, Joint
Secretary and Project Director, SASEC Information Highway Project, Ministry of
Information and Communication Technology.
ADB gave concurrence to the Regional
Network bidding document on 27 April, 2012 submitted by the SASEC project
management unit. BCTL will invite the tender for this component in June, 2012.
The expected date of completion of works for the Regional network is June,
2013.
b. Village Network: Out of 25 CeC
locations, 15 locations have been selected for setting up CeCs. The rest 10
locations will be selected by June, 2012. The tender will be invited in two
packages: first for 15 locations and the second for the rest 10 locations. The
expected dates of floating tenders for the two packages are August and October,
2012 respectively. The expected date of completion of works for the Village
Network is December, 2013.
c. Research and Training Network: This
component is financed by TA from ADB. However, no TA agreement was signed with
ERD for this component and therefore TA PP was not prepared by MoICT for this
component. The issue was raised by the Bangladesh delegation in the bilateral
interconnection agreement meeting (25-27 April, 2012) in Manila. ADB representatives present in the meeting
told that ADB will initiate necessary communication with ERD, Ministry of
Finance to streamline this TA component of SASEC Information Highway Project.
Signing of
bilateral interconnection agreements among four SASEC countries at ADB
Headquarters in Manila
Conclusion
SASEC Information Highway Project has
ushered a new era in subregional cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India
and Nepal. While SAARC could not deliver the results as expected, SASEC
platform may be explored to expedite subregional cooperation in areas of
energy, trade, transport, tourism, environment and ICT. For example, hydro-energy in Nepal can be
utilized for power generation through cooperation among SASEC countries for
mutual benefit. Peace, stability and mutual trust are preconditions for
successful subregional cooperation. The recently approved ‘Perspective Plan of
Bangladesh 2010-2021: Making Vision 2021 a Reality’ strongly emphasizes on
positive steps relating to globalization and subregional cooperation. The
governments of other three SASEC countries have similar stance on subregional
cooperation. Against the backdrop of congenial political environment prevailing
in the SASEC subregion, it is up to the bureaucrats and business leaders to
take cooperation among the SASEC countries to a new height.
Great initiative
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