Cable removal stopped for now
Internet service providers have called off today’s one-hour strike on government assurance that no more overhead cables would be removed in the city until sufficient logistic support to lay cables underground is arranged.
The decision came after the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) held a meeting with Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad at his ministry’s conference room yesterday, said ISPAB President Akhtaruzzaman Manju.
The service providers on Sunday called a one-hour token strike from 11:00am today to protest the removal of overhead cables on the city’s thoroughfares.
A nine-member committee, headed by Anwar Hossain, deputy secretary (development) at the power ministry, was formed to supervise drives to remove overhead cables in the city.
The committee will include representatives from ISPs, Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) companies, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) and Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB).
It will submit reports to the power ministry on whether the arrangement by NTTN companies is sufficient to lay cables underground.
The committee will then notify the Internet service providers and cable operators to lay cables underground, said Shajahan Mia, general manager (engineering and system control) of Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco).
Drives to remove overhead cables would remain suspended until the committee submits its report, he said.
The power secretary gave an assurance that the ISPAB leaders would be informed timely about any drive to remove overhead cables in the future, Manju said after the two-hour meeting that began at 10:00am.
“The power secretary made it a point that our representatives must be present in any future drive,” he added.
The Desco and Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) launched a drive on December 12 to remove overhead Internet and satellite TV wires on the thoroughfares from Shahbagh to Uttara.
