Obnoxious overhead cables still dangling in Dhaka amid infighting

The government move to free Dhaka city from the horrible power cables is yet to see any success, thanks to the conflicts among the Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) and internet service providers (ISPs).

A committee formed by the Power Division has come up with the disclosure and found it as a major roadblock towards bringing discipline in power cable management, official sources said.

At a meeting on October 31, the Power Division constituted the committee, headed by its joint secretary (good governance and operation management) Abul Khain MD Aminur Rahman giving him 15 days’ time to prepare a report on required actions for removing all the overhead cables dangling with electric poles posing a great threat to uninterrupted power supply, according to the sources.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid had presided over that meeting, attended by representatives from different groups of stakeholders.

The sources said the Power Division’s move is part of the government plan to take underground all kinds of overhead cables, including electricity, internet and dish TV lines within the next few years.   

Overhead cables of different services like internet, telecom, and cable TV networks from the electric poles in Dhaka.

They said the DPDC and Desco, now engaged in power distribution in the city, had undertaken a project to take their overhead electric cables underground in Dhanmondi and Gulshan areas.

Official sources said the committee recently sat with all the stakeholders, including the representatives of NTTN and ISP companies, to find out the main reasons of repeated failures of the distribution companies to remove the overhead non-electric cables from electric poles and also found a solution to the problem.

Recently, the committee submitted its report to the ministry giving a detailed description of the current conflict among the companies disrupting the government’s initiatives in this regard.   

The report mentioned that Summit Communications Limited (SCL) and Fiber@Home (FAH) have been working as NTTN in the city and they laid underground cables for operating their main internet network in the city while some 1734 legal and some 5,000 illegal internet service providing (ISP) companies have been operating as local ones to provide internet connections to homes and offices through overhead cables.

As per the system, the ISPs are supposed to take connections from SCL and FAH to take internet service to homes and offices from the main network.

But NTTN companies alleged that the ISPs are not taking connections from Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) or Access Point (AP) installed by NTTN as it will cost them financially, says the report.

On the other hand, the report reveals, the IPS companies alleged that they do not prefer taking connections from LDP or AP as they do not get required and instant solutions from the NTTN companies if any problem takes place in any internet service connection.

Besides, the NTTN are charging excessively in providing connections to the ISP companies from their LDP and AP, the report mentions quoting the ISP companies.        

Under the circumstances, the ISP companies are hanging overhead cables indiscriminately and giving connections to homes and offices without following any rule or regulation, the report says adding that only the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) can step in and resolve the conflict.

Finally, the committee adopted an 11-point recommendation to have a solution and take all overhead cables underground through coordination with electricity distribution companies —DPDC and Desco.

The committee found that the haphazardly hung internet, security and dish TV cables are not only posing a great a threat to the power distribution system, but also creating a major obstacle to the government’s move for the beautification of the capital.  

Contacted, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said he has already received the report in this regard and planned to hold a meeting again with the stakeholders, including NTTN and ISP companies.

“After the meeting, we’ll give some suggestions to them. If they don’t follow, we’ll go for action against the troublemakers in removing haphazardly hung cables from electric poles,” he told.