Info-bahan Project

• Construction of Higher Capacity Backbone Transport networks for transportation and routing of IP packet of various ICT services at different cities under Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi,Rangpur, Barisal & Sylhet divisions.
• Construction of Access networks for various IP based ICT services at different cities under Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barisal & Sylhet divisions.
• Contribute to build up Digital Bangladesh through building the necessary infrastructure for various IP based ICT services.

Major Scope of Works,

i) IP Backbone

• Construction of IP backbone network connecting various important cities of Bangladesh. Total 62 IP PoPs has been constructed.
• Construction of a high capacity optical transport network, as IP based services are bandwidth hungry. Total 49 Transmission nodes (DWDM & MSPP) has been installed out of which 39 in phase-I.
• Construction of nearly 1450 km optical transmission networks for connecting Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet Divisional cities and some important district cities. Out of which 300 km in EDCF loan and rest are in GoB fund.

ii)  Access Networks.

• PON based optical Access networks is being built in 4 exchanges (Moghbazar, Central, Gulshan and SB Nagar) of Dhaka city
• ADSL based Access networks for about 24,000 subscribers in 74 nodes has been built for rendering ADSL service over the existing copper cable networks in 32 districts and 4 upazilas.
• Besides, it will be possible to provide IP bandwidth directly from the PoPs for medium and big subscribers through IP switch.
• More than 100 km optical access network has also been constructed to connect different government offices, educational institutions and important locations.

Network Design :

INFO-BAHAN project applies the IP/MPLS technology as a national data backbone network  for the benefits of IP/MPLS as follows;

•  MPLS is a high-performance packet forwarding technology that integrates the performance and traffic management capabilities of data link layer (Layer-2)   switching with the scalability, flexibility and performance of network-layer (Layer-3) routing.
• Next generation IP backbone network services such as all IP and BcN network service are based on IP/MPLS technology.

• MPLS enables service providers to meet challenges brought about b explosive growth and provides the opportunity for differentiated services without necessitating the sacrifice  of existing infrastructure.
• MPLS blends the intelligence of routing with the performance of switching, enabling service providers to extend the capabilities of IP to large-scale VPN implementations. So, using MPLS, VPNs have become much easier to deploy and scale.

Rural Connectivity.

BTCL has the largest telecommunication infrastructure in the country. It has a plan to mitigate digital divide and reach the unreachable. Majority (70%) of it`s population still live in rural area. Most of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. To ensure rural connectivity BTCL has a plan to connect all of Upazila HQs and unions in phase wise. So that they can reap the benefit of e-commerce, e-health, e-agriculture, distant education through internet. Right now Upazilla HQs are all connected either through optical fiber or MW link. BTCL has ability to connect most of the Dist. HQs (56 No.) and Upazilla HQS (65 No.) which lie on national optical fiber backbone. If we consider District HQs as Upazilla HQs total number of upazilla having OFC connectivity reaches to 121 places. Upon completion of TNDP (JICA financed) project, number of Upazilla HQs with optical fiber connectivity will reach 180. In this phase one location is very difficult due to its geographical position. It is Bhola, the island district situated on the Meghna estuary. There is no other way but to enhance it`s existing MW link by a high capacity STM1 (3+1) radio link. Rest of the Upazilla HQs will be connected through 2 projects pending for GoB`s approval. One project is vital in this context. This Project is called "Optical Fiber Cable Network Development at Upazila Level". Total 290 Upazilla HQs will get optical fiber connectivity (48 core, 8220 Km.) under this project. Rest of the difficult 12 Upazilla HQs will be connected through 'Remote 1000 Union' project and BTCL vows to connect us all by connecting 482 upazila in total.