Editorial
Telecom and Internet chaos must be avoided
Secure optic cable network by all means
FOR the second time in a week, Bangladesh's connectivity with outside world was disrupted -- thanks to the snapping of the optic fibre link to the submarine cable network. The trouble spot has been identified and repair work undertaken since Monday night under the supervision of the technical experts of BTTB.
The snapped cable was exposed due to heavy rains and had cut marks inflicted apparently by some heavy and sharp weapons like a spade or an axe. Three possibilities are being talked about: one, stealing the wire rather wrongly thinking it contains a lot of copper which is not the case though; two, an attempted subversion of the cable connectivity by some criminals, and last but not least, lack of surveillance and maintenance exposing the fragile parts of the fibre inviting piracy.
Evidently, the incidents raise serious questions about making a short shrift of the country's fibre optic connectivity which ought to have been a top security and maintenance concern for the BTTB because of the dividends it pays. The resultant effects of disruption in the cable network services are multidimensional. Submarine cable network is Bangladesh's gateway to the information superhighway, a vital link in the creation of a knowledge-based society. But in establishing this connectivity we have wasted a decade already, so that we need to make up for the lost time through an uninterrupted use of this speedy communication mode. The link is also of vital importance to the business community enabling them to communicate speedily, effectively and efficiently with the outside world round the clock. As for the BTTB itself, disruption of the network deprives it of a revenue of US$70,000 every hour.
We thus urge the government that foolproof security measures be put in place forthwith in order to prevent recurrence of dislocations in the cable network services. Side by side, we should also seriously consider the possibility of a back up fibre optic connection to the submarine cable network which we understand had been proposed jointly by Power Grid Company Ltd and Bangla Phone to the BTTB.
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