State-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) is working to provide its low-cost fast internet service Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) to 28,500 new subscribers in Chattogram by December, said an official.
The BTCL also plans to provide IP phone and satellite connections through GPON connection which the is currently being installed with underground optical fiber, said Engineer Golam Mostafa, general manager of BTCL Chattagram region.
Mostafa said the GPON service will be made available to some 10,000 users from Nandankanan, 6,500 from Agrabad, 3,000 from Bayezid, 3,000 from Muradpur, 3,000 from Sagarika, 1,000 from Pahartali, 1,000 from Kalurghat Exchange.
Citing the service as a low-cost one, the official said, price of 2 Mbps ‘GPON’ package has been fixed at Tk 350 including VAT per month while 5 Mbps at Tk 500, 10 Mbps at Tk 750, and 20 Mbps package will cost Tk 1200 a month.
This money will be used to connect through optical fiber. However, if someone just wants to take the line for telephone work, they will be given a connection to the copper transmission line. Note that BTCL is modernizing the equipment of their exchanges with the aim of building modern telecommunication facilities as well as increasing the rate of telephone usage. Telecommunication networks across the country are being modernized through fiber optic cable instead of copper transmission lines. As a result, opportunities for voice calls as well as internet and video exchange are increasing. Through this, the public is getting information technology services at low prices.
Internet Protocol (IP) has added phone connectivity, e-governance, e-commerce, e-education, e-health, e-agriculture and other opportunities through BTCL. With the launch of the latest 'GPON' connection, BTCL customers are bringing together the opportunity to watch TV channels without telephone, internet, dish connection for their customers.
In August 2009, the price of internet was reduced from Tk 27,000 per Mbps to Tk 18,000 so that the general public can use the internet at an affordable cost. Later, it was reduced to Tk 12,000 in April 2011, Tk 8,000 in April 2012, Tk 2,800 in April 2014, a maximum of Tk 960 in September 2015 and a minimum of Tk 360.
Last June 27 last year, the minimum charge for one Mbps bandwidth was set at Tk 360 to Tk 180.
