Editorial
Backup of optical fibre line
Put it in place without delay
That we do not yet have a back-up of the optical fibre line in place indicates that this has not been accorded the priority that it deserves. One would have expected that the relevant authorities might have addressed the matter, which has to do with the country's only internet and telephone connectivity with the outside world, with more urgency than we have noticed so far.
As it is, there have been 22 instances of disruption in the line of which seven times were the result of miscreants' act. This might well have been acts of sabotage to cut the country off from the outside world. Given this vulnerability, and the law enforcement agencies' inability to apprehend the gang responsible for the acts so far, the alternative should have been operationalised by now. One of the reasons for it perhaps is that the BTTB has not been able to make up its mind as to which option to finally go for.
As we understand from a report on BTTB's fix regarding setting up of the backup measure appearing in this newspaper, the telephone authorities are as yet undecided whether to take up the offer of the Power Grid Company, a government owned company (PGCB), that would cost something in the region of US$ 2.7 million or that of Bangla Phone (BP) where swapping of the fibre optic line whenever needed would come free of cost.
The matter brooks no delay. If there is any compelling reason that prevents the BTTB from taking up the free offer, given that we lose almost US$ 70,000 for every hour that the optical fibre line remains disrupted, a cost benefit analysis of the offer for a 5-year period by the PGCB, that too a government-owned company, makes for a good deal.
Reportedly, the government may perhaps be contemplating to declare it as a Key Point Installation (KPI). But given that the submarine cable stretches over almost 400 kilometers, providing constant watch over it may prove somewhat difficult. Thus there is also the need for the government to come up with a viable option, apart from a back up, to reduce the vulnerability of the fibre optic line to sabotage.
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