Unwinding the wires

A common scene: Tangled cables in our midst.

The telecom regulator has decided to take overhead cables underground to free Dhaka from a tangle of cables from sight.
Under the move, all overhead wires that are used to provide internet and cable television services will be transferred to an underground transmission system.
Operators used overhead cables to provide services as it was easy to build a network by using the city's electricity poles.
However, overhead cables are becoming quite a nag because of an increase in stealing services and frequent cable cuts due to natural disasters. Both operators and users are fed up of resuming services repeatedly.
In Dhaka, more than 10 lakh internet users are connected through overhead cables. Additionally, more than 3.5 lakh television viewers are also connected with overhead cable to the television networks.
Two projects are expected to start within the next three weeks to begin work on the move -- one will be from Gulshan to Uttara and another from Shahabag to Jahangir Gate.
Initially, operators will be connected to the underground network of Fiber @ Home Ltd, a nationwide telecommunication transmission network (NTTN) service provider.
Dhaka city has been jam-packed with the overhead cables ever since Bangladesh got connected with the submarine cable that helped people log on to the internet.
"It is high time the city is freed from this mess of cables," said Aktaruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers Bangladesh (ISPAB).
He said the capital should have an aesthetic appeal and be attractive to both foreigners and locals. "We feel the overhead cables destroys the beauty of this city."
Fiber @ Home Ltd has developed 1,200-kilometers of countrywide networks that cover 23 districts and 90 upazillas.
Summit Communications Ltd, the second NTTN service providing company, received a license from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in December 2009 to provide the same service to operators.
"Overhead cable users must connect with the underground cable networks," said Zia Ahmed, chairman of BTRC.
He said the commission decided to make this happen, considering the need to develop the image of Dhaka.
"We have to adopt modern technologies that can benefit both customers and operators," said Parvez Anwar, president of Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB).