The Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) is planning to kick off National Internet Exchange (NIX), the country’s first ever state-run initiative, on December 31.
NIX, a non-profit venture is currently being set up at the Moghbazar telephone exchange officials of BTCL announced yesterday, at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry.
The main purpose of NIX is to facilitate handling domestic data traffic among local internet service providers (ISP) at a lower cost instead of using international servers in USA, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, they said.
The contents of official e-mails exchanged will also remain secure, officials informed the committee at the meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The NIX will also provide better services for its customers in terms of connectivity and speed by avoiding globe-trotting, the officials added.
Currently, there is a privately-run lone internet exchange in the country but its services are neither cost effective nor satisfactory, the officials said.
Emerging from the meeting, Hasanul Haq Inu, chief of the parliamentary body and also a leader of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) said NIX will enable a more efficient use of international bandwidth and save foreign exchange.
The government has also taken initiatives to rent out the unused facilities of optical fibre cables for three years which will earn around Tk 22 to 25 crore, said the committee chief.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed told reporters that a draft policy for setting up NIX has already been prepared and is available at the website of BTRC.
Suggestions are welcome from November 6 onwards, said the chairman.
