1. Infrastructure sharing in Bangladesh:
Bottlenecks and way forward
Abu Saeed Khan
Senior Policy Fellow, LIRNEasia
@ Westin, Dhaka. April 20, 2014

2. Bangladesh in regional
ICT Development Index (IDI)
Source: Measuring the Information Society 2013, ITU.

3. Bangladesh: Improved in ranking,
yet remains at bottom of the list.
Source:MeasuringtheInformationSociety2013,ITU.

4. Monthly median IP Transit prices (10GE) per Mbps (Q2 2013)
Source: TeleGeography
$1.26
$1.26
$1.27
$1.27
$1.27
$1.35
$1.62
$1.62
$1.71
$1.71
$1.71
$1.74
$1.28
$1.28
$1.29
$1.29
$1.30
$1.30
$1.50
$1.56
$1.56
$1.63
$1.64
$2.86
$4.00
$13.00
$16.49
$18.00
$20.00
$21.34
$22.40
$26.85
$32.50
$40.00
$49.98

5. Two solutions: Diversify, keep diversifying!
Poor diversity
Exceptions

6. Submarine networks = Terrestrial networks
Courtesy: Ciena
Evolution of technology = Evolution of policy

7. International Internet bandwidth
(Mbps) consumption in South Asia
Country 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Bangladesh 172 348 642 1,264 3,637 7,148 13,647 22,083 38,085
Bhutan 7 22 30 75 116 330 485 640 940
India 8,178 16,201 35,682 76,612 193,993 335,858 649,977 914,086 1,265,928
Nepal 35 41 85 199 1,085 1,775 4,865 7,960 12,300
Pakistan 1,234 2,555 4,852 9,014 29,079 58,939 104,920 136,695 195,325
Sri Lanka 496 688 1,045 2,453 4,465 10,661 21,032 33,070 53,244
Notes: Figures represent Internet bandwidth connected across international borders. Data as of mid-year.
Source: TeleGeography

8. South Asia: Gbps Club of >1.5 Tbps (2013)
Country*
(IDI rank)
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
India
(121)
8,178 16,201 35,682 76,612 193,993 335,858 649,977 914,086
1,265,928
(82%)
Pakistan
(129)
1,234 2,555 4,852 9,014 29,079 58,939 104,920 136,695
195,325
(13%)
Sri Lanka
(107)
496 688 1,045 2,453 4,465 10,661 21,032 33,070
53,244
(3%)
Bangladesh
(135)
172 348 642 1,264 3,637 7,148 13,647 22,083
38,085
(2%)
*Source: TeleGeography. Figures represent Internet bandwidth connected across international borders. Data as of mid-year.
ICT Development Index (IDI) global rank: Measuring the Information Society 2013, ITU.

9. TheGlobalInformation
TechnologyReport2013(WEF)

10. Mobile launched in 1997:
Telcos didn’t have fiber transmission*

11. Investing in Different Network Layers

12. >US$400millioninvested

13. OFC TX networks in Bangladesh
Source: BTRC website
(Retrieved on April 19, 2014)

14. Revised Infrastructure Sharing Guidelines
Missed the opportunity of open access

15. 2008
2011
Original and amended telecom
Infrastructure Sharing Guidelines

16. From competition to captive market

17. Impact analyses of amended guideline
• NTTNs not necessarily own fiber infrastructure. Yet, they are
exclusive providers of transmission services.
– Public sector monopoly (BTCL) and private sector duopoly (Two NTTNs).
– BTCL also operates access and gateways.
• Airtel and Robi.
– Increased operating costs and slower network rollout.
• Grameenphone, Banglalink and CityCell
– Investment (>US$ 400 million) under jeopardy.
• The entire telecom sector
– Reliability and affordability of fixed and mobile broadband is
compromised.
– Discouraging for foreign investments in infrastructure development.

18. Mobile industry wrote to MOPT
(July 20, 2011)

19. ISP Association wrote to MOPT
(October 16, 2011)

20. Barrier to affordable broadband
(Digital Bangladesh?)
Wasted the opportunity of open access

21. Perfect candidate for open access (Domestic and International)

22. State-owned PTT
Closed access

23. Open access is not a stranger
to Bangladesh Government
Political goodwill for needed
for technical imperatives

24. Courtesy: Ciena
Internet’s infrastructure fragility and cost

27. Tweet from Renesys on November 16, 2012: “BTCL, Mango down.
Fiber@Home uses terrestrial conx to India, Link3 stays on satellite up.”

28. Routine maintenance
of SMW4 on January
23, 2013 20:14 to
21:53 UTC.
BTCL and Mango are
completely offline
during the downtime.
1Asia, Aamra, NovoCom
and Fiber@Home
experienced increases in
their traffic as customers
automatically shift traffic
to the surviving
connection.

29. Bangladesh is among 10 emerging countries
hot on the heels of the BRICS (March 26, 2014)
• Coface identifies only 10 "new emerging" countries which
meet all the criteria. However, these countries are not the
same in terms of their business environments - the
weaknesses of which can stifle growth. This leads Coface to
distinguish two groups in the "new emerging" countries:
– Colombia, Indonesia, Peru, the Philippines and Sri Lanka have a
sound business climate (A4 or B), similar to that of the BRIC
countries today.
– Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia have very
difficult (C) or extremely difficult (D) business environments
which could hamper their growth prospects.
Source: Coface press release.

30. A note of encouragement
• Naturally, it will be more difficult for the second
group of countries, who could take longer to fully
realise their growth potential.
• However, their business environment problems are
relative: in 2001, the quality of governance in Brazil,
China, India and Russia was comparable to that of
Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia
today.
Julien Marcilly, Head of country risk at Coface.

31. Next steps in telecom: Back to basics
• Restore Infrastructure Sharing Guidelines of 2008.
– Be technology-neutral.
– Encourage active infrastructure sharing.
• Unbundle BTCL’s transmission from access networks.
– Ensure the ITCs access to SASEC network.
– Explore Structural Separation of private networks.
• Unified Licenses with Open Access for NTTNs.
– Reduce regulatory fees.
– Tax-incentive for co-locating data centers.
• Foreign carriers to trade IP Transit in Bangladesh
– Declare BSCCL as a Facilities Based Operator.
• Issue more Facilities Based Licenses.

32. Today’s policy shapes tomorrow
Picture: The Daily Star