Bangladesh Cancels Telecom Agreement, Affecting India's Connectivity Plans

Bangladesh ends key telecom sharing pact with India, derailing efforts to bolster internet access in India's northeast and derailing regional telecoms pact.

India's attempts to coerce improvements in telecom connectivity to its northeastern states are at a halt today as Bangladesh's interim government cancelled a key "bandwidth transit" agreement. The halt applies to the agreement which allows the flow of high-speed internet from Singapore via Bangladesh to India and was cancelled by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on December 1. What this means is that the effect will seriously fall on the remote northeastern part of India's telecom services.

The deal, initially supposed to be signed with the Backing of Bangladeshi Summit Communications and Fiber@Home, will augment connectivity between India and Bangladesh through the Akhaura borders. Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel also partnered with this scheme to bridge up the area for smooth Internet experience and infrastructure. However, due to the existing BTRC mandate, the plan was discarded as it has potential threats to Bangladesh in becoming a regional telecom hub.

Another reason cited for the scrapping was economic; Bangladesh found nothing much in the way of benefit with the deal. Bilateral turmoil and internal political dynamics were also vital to the cause. The cancellation has been seen as an attempt to weaken the power of those companies tied very closely to the Awami League party led by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's.

It is a big blow to the telecom sector in India, as well as to India's regional telecom projects. It also sends a bad signal about future cooperation between India and Bangladesh for building telecom and digital infrastructure. Overall, the way this development reads is negative for regional telecom cooperation.