Bangladesh on the Verge of Bandwidth Crisis
Industry experts have cautioned that over the next 10 years, Bangladesh’s digital economy might face a serious problem due to ongoing slowdowns in the availability of underwater cable connections to meet the country’s growing need for bandwidth. At a workshop titled ‘Protecting Digital Sovereignty and the Necessity of New Submarine Cables to Meet Future Bandwidth Demand’, held at a resort near Dhaka by the Telecom and Technology Reporters Association of Bangladesh (TRAB), the issues were raised. The event, which was led by TRAB President Mr. Masuzzaman Robin, included speeches by General Secretary Mr. Faruk Hossain as well as notable discussions by Mr. Moshiur Rahman, CEO of Cinet Communications Limited, and Mr. Mahmud Shahed, Project Lead of Metacore Subcom Limited. These speakers emphasized key issues related to international bandwidth usage, future demand, investment, and digital sovereignty.
Over the past 13 years, Bangladesh’s international bandwidth usage has grown at an incredible rate, about 260 times, from approximately 50 Gbps in 2013 to 0.76 terabits in 2018. As usage increased, it reached 1.78 terabits in 2020, 4.2 terabits in 2022, 6.86 terabits in 2024, and almost 13.5 terabits in 2026. According to industry predictions, this demand will increase to nearly 27 terabits in 2028 and 19.1 terabits in 2027. Demand is expected to increase to 54 terabits in 2030, 305 terabits by 2035, and an immense 432 terabits by 2036 due to the rapid growth of cloud computing, data centers, artificial intelligence, online education, digital payments, and industrial digitalization.
In addition to a part of bandwidth imported via International Terrestrial Cable systems, Bangladesh now depends heavily on two government-owned submarine cables, SEA-ME-WE-4 and SEA-ME-WE-5, which offer bandwidth capacities of 4.6 and 2.5 terabits, respectively. In contrast to regional counterparts, like India with 19 connections, Malaysia with 23, Thailand with 12, and the Philippines with 19, workshop presenters highlighted that this dependence on only two cables puts national infrastructure at severe risk. Diversity is therefore a critical national goal since any failure or maintenance problem in a single cable puts huge pressure on national internet services.
Since the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable’s operational lifespan will expire in 2030, stakeholders argue that even though the government is launching its third underwater cable, SEA-ME-WE-6, it will still be insufficient for long-term demands. A significant supply-and-demand imbalance is expected to be avoided by including more capacity. The country’s overall bandwidth capacity may rise to almost 67 terabits if private sector undersea cables are approved, according to experts. This would create a solid buffer against future infrastructure challenges.
Connecting private underwater cables will improve national digital sovereignty, according to Mohammad Aminul Hakim, CEO of Metacore Subcom Limited, highlighting the benefits of including the private sector. He asserted that the program may lower internet costs by as much as 50%, improve service quality by 25–30%, lower latency, and raise internet usage rates nationwide by 20–30%. He emphasized that the International Terrestrial Cable, rather than traditional submarine companies, is their main rival in the market, highlighting the financial feasibility and advantages for consumers of growing alternative connection pathways.
Experts emphasized that waiting for a crisis to develop would make rapid deployment difficult because it takes years to plan, finance, build, and launch an undersea cable. To protect data centers, cloud services, e-commerce, and technology-driven industries, industry leaders have called for urgent, long-term policy choices about new installations. The workshop, which was attended by prominent individuals such as CEO Mohammad Aminul Hakim and Managing Director Mr. Ahmed Junaid of Metacore Subcom, came to the conclusion that immediate action is essential to ensuring the future success of Bangladesh’s changing digital landscape.
