Pioneer Consulting supporting deliver of Bangladesh's third submarine telecom cable

10 September 2024 Consultancy.asia

Bangladesh’s first privately-owned submarine telecommunications cable has entered its construction stage, with Pioneer Consulting continuing its role as the project’s chief management consultant.

Around two years ago, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) awarded submarine cable licenses to three companies: Summit Communications, CdNet Communications, and Metacore Subcom. These three companies formed the Bangladesh Private Cable System (BPCS) consortium to install Bangladesh’s first privately owned submarine cable system.

The need for a new submarine cable is obvious: only two submarine cables currently connect Bangladesh to wider markets, both of which are managed by state-owned Bangladesh Submarine Cables. As a result, Bangladeshis experience relatively higher prices for internet access and abrupt outages. Just this April, one of the two cables broke, leading to a significant reduction in capacity and reports of high latency in some areas.

Supplying at least 45 Tbit/s of bandwidth, the new privately-owned submarine cable consist of a 1,300 kilometre branch cable beginning in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and connecting to the Campana-owned UMO trunk cable, which runs from Myanmar to Singapore. BPCS will own rights to three of the cable’s fiber pairs, each supplying at least 15 Tbit/s of bandwidth.

“Bangladesh deserves world-class internet capacity and accessibility; we believe this new cable will significantly enhance the country’s ability to meet its internet demand in the coming decade. This new infrastructure will greatly improve internet speed, reliability, and affordability across Bangladesh,” said K.M. Tariquzzaman, CTO of Summit Communications and Project Lead for the BPCS consortium.

The consultant: Pioneer Consulting

US-headquartered Pioneer Consulting has been advising and supporting the BPCS consortium since the early days of the project, on topics including route assessment, due diligence, commissioning of the UMO cable system, supply contract formation, and procurement.

As the project now enters the preliminary construction stage, the BPCS consortium has extended its collaboration with the consulting firm. Pioneer Consulting has been contracted for project management, engineering, and quality assurance support of the branch cable for connectivity to Singapore.

Pioneer Consulting's tasks will include audits and factory visits, factory and in-station tests, schedule and budget management, route engineering and system installation, system assembly testing and commissioning management, and general project management and supervision.

Tariquzzaman stated: “Pioneer Consulting has been meticulous throughout this project, advising on the geographical, geopolitical, technical, and financial considerations of route selection and assisting in every step of supply procurement and project execution. We’re pleased to have them aboard this historic project.”

The cable is expected to go into service in the first quarter of 2026.

Commenting on the extension of its mandate, Dave Marie, Director of Client Solutions at Pioneer Consulting, said: “We’re proud to be part of this groundbreaking project, poised to change the connectivity landscape of Bangladesh. We’re looking forward to a productive partnership with the entire consortium.”

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