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Mobile phone providers have asked the government to formulate policies to ensure the maximum use of the submarine cable connections, known as information super highway, through an open and fair market competition.
They said the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) should not monopolise the technology and all the private phone operators should get easy access to the submarine cable for optimising its use and helping boost trade and commerce of the country.
Bangladesh got connected to the Middle East last week through the much-awaited submarine cable line, at a cost of US$ 35 million, industry sources said.
Sixteen organisations of 14 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe formed a consortium to install the 22-thousand kilometre long submarine cable line.
"We are not clear how the BTTB is going to allow use of the line by private telephone and mobile phone providers -- and also at what tariff," said a top official of the country's telecommunication technology provider.
BTTB chairman Abdul Maleque Akhand, however, said, he is trying to create a congenial environment so that all users could reap the benefit of the technology.
"This is a national asset and everyone is entitled to get its benefits," Akhand noted. He said many committees are working day and night to determine the users' criteria and tariff rate for use of the optical fibre facilities.
However, mobile phone operators were 'not being properly conveyed what actions the BTTB was taking for the best use of the technology.'
One of the cell phone operators, said, "We have not been still consulted about the submarine matters."
He said the tariff they were paying to the telecom service providers was too high and must be streamlined in line with the international rates.
In most of the European countries such telephony facilities cost a consumer only 30 Euro a month.
"In just 30 Euro, we can talk throughout our own country and get broadband and cable TV connections. Our speed is two megabyte per second," said the official of the telephone technology provider company.
He said in Bangladesh he was paying Tk 20,000 for only 128-megabyte/second speed broadband connections for a month, which was "most expensive in the world."
"If the private telephone companies here are allowed to use the submarine cable, the consumers should not be paying more than international rate," he observed. He said the companies should charge less than the one-hundredth of the current tariff (Tk 20,000 month), considering speed, single-purpose use and other facilities after they get submarine connections.
The BTTB chairman said a committee was working on to settle the tariff rate.
Many of the mobile phone and fixed line telephone providers have already started to install the latest technology to get connect their customers with the submarine cable.
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