Work on SASEC Information Highway finally begins

KATHMANDU:

Work on laying an optical fibre connection, which will link Nepal with India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, has finally begun. Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has said that South Korean firm ICRAFT started optical fibre extension in BP Highway from this month.

ICRAFT had bagged the contract to construct the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Information Highway funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in January last year. Going by the original plan of MoIC, the project was supposed to have been completed within eight to 10 months after the contract was signed.

“Field work on laying optical fibre has started from both Dhulikhel and Bardibas sites of BP Highway from this month,” said Bharat Bahadur Dhungana, project manager of SASEC Information Highway Project. He added that ICRAFT has also completed laying optical fibres on a three-km stretch.

According to Dhungana, implementing the project took longer than initially anticipated as the venture is new for them and thus, it required more homework and technical expertise. Due to delay in project implementation, the government has extended the completion date to December this year. MoIC is confident of completing the 170-km optical fibre extension work of the project within the stipulated time.

The project, which has received around $5 million, focuses on three components — setting up cross-border optical fibre connectivity, making ICT accessible in rural communities by setting up e-centres, and research and development. Kathmandu University will work on the research and development component, while work on establishing 30 community e-centres in nine selected districts, including Sunsari, Saptari, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sindhuli and Kavrepalanchowk, among others, is ongoing, according to MoIC.

The unique proposition of this project is that the cross-country fibre link will help reduce the cost of voice and data services in future. “It will contribute in making data and voice services reliable, faster and cheaper,” said Dhungana. Once the project starts commissioning voice traffic to and from third countries, it can be handled through India’s undersea optical fibre cable connection.

The fibre connection to be extended will establish cross-border connectivity through Cable Landing Station (CLS) at Rani, Biratnagar, which will have a connection with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) network in Jogbani, India. Similarly, there will be another connection with CLS at Birgunj that will link Raxaul, India. To this effect, the project will also lay fibre from Hetauda to Biratnagar via Bardibas and Hetauda to Birgunj via Pathlaiya.

MoIC is implementing the project and will hand over optical fibre infrastructure to Nepal Telecom (NT) for operation and maintenance as per the Cabinet decision three years ago. NT, on behalf of Nepal, had signed a contract with BSNL, Bangladesh Telecom Company and Bhutan Telecom in 2012 to establish bilateral interconnections by building a fibre link. The project has envisaged of fibre network of 10Gbps backbone capacity for supporting multiple-services and providing backbone capacity for a number of services.

Source: THT