The government is going to introduce the first-ever public sector internet exchange by the yearend to save international bandwidth, the parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications ministry told recently.
The committee also suggested that the government should legitimise voice over internet protocol business in two months.
The state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) had begun installation work of the national internet exchange at the Moghbazar telephone exchange, likely to be launched on December 31.
The company also prepared a draft policy regarding the national internet exchange.
The committee chief said private companies would also be encouraged to set up such exchanges. A private company now runs such an exchange in the private sector.
The committee also suggested that the ministry should encourage e-service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other companies to set up their local hosting servers in Bangladesh.
It should be noted here that the country use only 15Gbps of its 44Gbps and decided to rent out additional bandwidth for three years as equipment needed to use the full capacity was yet to be installed. An additional Tk 22 crore to Tk 25 crore may be earned by renting out the additional bandwidth.