Hanging Cables
Symbolic start to drive
The crackdown against overhead Internet and cable TV wires on city thoroughfares began yesterday with cables from a pole at Karwan Bazar removed.
Cable operators claimed the removal of wires caused 150 cable operators to become dysfunctional whereas Internet service providers said thousands of Internet users experienced disruption to Internet services.
Many subscribers in the city’s Mirpur, Tejgaon, Bijoy Sarani, Nikunjo, Gulshan, Banani and Khilkhet could not watch satellite channels yesterday, said SM Anwar Parvez, former president of Cable Operators’ Association of Bangladesh (Coab).
Some cable operators, however, managed to reconnect their cables through alternative routes in the evening, which made the situation somewhat better, he said.
About Internet services, Akhtaruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB), said several thousand users received poor Internet services because of the drive.
The city power authorities called the drive “symbolic” and said it is a message to the cable operators so they voluntarily remove their cables from the main roads from Uttara to Shahbagh via Jahangir Gate.
“We removed cables from in front of the Wasa Bhaban in Karwan Bazar,” said Shahjahan Mia, general manager (Engineering and System Control) of Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (Desco).
He said the two power authorities– Dhaka Power Division Company (DPDC) and Desco– will hold a meeting today with the city municipal authorities, cable operators and ISPs to formulate a plan on how overhead cables can be removed in the most efficient way.
“Any cables hanging on the roadside poles after December 16 will be removed by DPDC and Desco the following day,” says a written statement by the power ministry.
Enamul Haque, state minister for power; Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad; secretary of the power ministry, and representatives from Coab and ISPAB were present during yesterday’s drive, Desco officials said.
During the inauguration of the drive, Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, urged the city dwellers to have patience while dealing with possible disruption to their Internet and cable TV services.
“There may be some problems during the introduction of new system. You should patiently wait for the result of the new system,” he said.
DPDC and Desco planned to move the city’s Internet and cable TV services underground, and in the first phase of implementing the plan, a drive has been launched to remove all unsightly overhead television and Internet cables from the thoroughfares from Uttara to Shahbagh.
Coab leaders complained that the underground optical fibre network is designed to provide technological support for ISPs and telecommunication companies but not for cable operators.
They said a letter will be sent to the energy secretary tomorrow demanding a solution to this problem.
Two Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) corporations, Fiber @ Home Ltd and Summit Communications Ltd, are responsible for establishing and managing the underground optical fibre network.
, Fiber @ Home Ltd and Summit Communications Ltd, are responsible for establishing and managing the underground optical fibre network.
