BTRC issues 6 licenses

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued six licenses for the deployment of international terrestrial cables (ITC), in order to improve the country’s international connectivity, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reported.

The six new licensees – Novocom Limited, Asis-AHL JV, BD Link Communication Ltd, Mango Teleservices Ltd, Summit Communications Ltd and Fibre@Home Limited – each paid BDT20 million in license fees. They must begin laying cable by July,  Telecomasia reported.

Bangladesh currently is served by a single submarine cable, SEA-ME-WE-4, while only one International Internet Gateway (IIG) license has been issued in the private sector, which belongs to Mango Teleservices.

Of the other new ITC cable licensees, GlobalComms says that Fiber@Home and Summit Communications hold Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) licenses covering domestic long-distance and local access voice and data services.