Overhead Cables to Underground
ISPs, cable operators get one month
The deadline given to internet service providers (ISP) and cable operators to reroute their overhead cables to underground has been extended by one month.
Power ministry officials, at a meeting yesterday, took the decision to give the service mongers time until November 31 for removing the overhead cables from the main roads between Uttara and Shahbagh.
Deputy Secretary (Coordination) Maksuda Khatun of the ministry said the organisations requested additional time to make preparations to connect to the underground network.
She, however, said, “The underground infrastructure to house the cables is all set.”
The ISP owners said it is taking time to get connected with the subterranean network due to financial and technical reasons.
As the charges are quite high, many smaller ISPs and cable operators would need more time to prepare logistics and finances for the conversion, said Akhteruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).
In March, the government gave deadline until October 31 to rid the poles between Uttara and Shahbagh from overhead cables. It is the first phase of a plan that aims to remove all overhead ‘non utility’ cables from city thoroughfares.
In the second phase, overhead cables on the main road between Shahbagh and Motijheel will be removed. The third phase will target the cables from Motijheel to Mogbazar.
