September 7, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Saani28,1423

DHAKA, Sept 6: Bangladesh will finally be joining the mainstream of the Internet superhighway. The government of Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 12 participants on Wednesday to officially be part of the SEA-ME-WE- 4 submarine cable project.

The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) Chairman, Badrul Haque, signed the agreement in Jakarta on behalf of the government. Bangladesh signed the agreement ignoring US pressures to opt for a different submarine cable option that would have been provided by the US company Tyco telecommunications.

In a letter on August 12, the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Marry Ann Peters, had urged the government to reconsider its decision to join the SEA-ME-WE 4 and suggested that Bangladesh should award the contract to Tyco.

The government, however, ignored the US ambassador’s suggestions on the ground that the Tyco proposal would cost the country more than double the money it has to pay to join the SEA-ME-WE-4 consortium, while providing less technical facilities.

Bangladesh joining the consortium means that the country will be connected directly, instead of the present VSAT technology, with major international Internet pipelines.

The other partners in the cable project are PT Indosat, SingTel, Telecom Malaysia Berhad, Bharti Telesonic, Videsh Sancher Nigam Ltd, Sri Lanka Telecom, Pakistan Telecom, Emirates Telecom, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telecom Italia SPA and France Telecom.