India halts bandwidth imports from Bangladesh
Termination of cross-border link underscores India’s weak connectivity in its northeast and Dhaka’s rising digital clout
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — India’s state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to stop importing internet bandwidth from Bangladesh, ending a decade-long connectivity arrangement that linked its northeastern states with Bangladesh’s high-capacity network.
Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC (BSCPLC) said BSNL notified the company that its remaining 10-gigabit-per-second link would be switched off at 00:00 on October 21, 2025.
The circuit runs via the Akhaura border, carrying traffic from BSCPLC’s Cox’s Bazar landing station over Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd’s terrestrial fiber to BSNL’s node in Agartala.
According to the Bangladeshi daily The Daily Star, BSCPLC executives confirmed the shutdown following the outlet’s inquiry, framing the move as the latest break in a decade of bandwidth cooperation between Dhaka and New Delhi.
For India’s northeast region, the corridor has served as a practical workaround to geography and under-served domestic backhaul, supplementing long, failure-prone routes to hubs such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The loss of Bangladesh capacity could mean slower restoration times during faults and tighter bandwidth headroom for the region.
The cross-border partnership dates to a 2015 agreement, with commercial service starting in 2016. Supply was suspended in 2020 amid payment issues, resumed in late 2021 under a new contract, and ramped from 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps before tapering again. People familiar with the arrangement say financial constraints on the Indian side have repeatedly disrupted take-up.
On Bangladesh’s side, policy has shifted toward diversification. After years of importing capacity from India to backstop a single submarine link, the telecom regulator this February capped inbound bandwidth from India at 50% to reduce concentration risk.
Bangladesh’s total demand is now roughly 8,500 Gbps, with close to half still sourced from Indian operators through international terrestrial cables.
BSCPLC, however, has expanded quickly. It crossed 3,000 Gbps of live traffic on April 28, 2025 and passed 4,000 Gbps on August 1, adding more than 2,200 Gbps in the past year — a jump of over 105% as the interim government pushed for redundancy and new routes.
The immediate impact in India’s northeast will depend on how fast alternative capacity and fiber resilience can be brought online. Region-wide, the episode highlights how South Asia’s digital integration still hinges on a handful of chokepoints — and how quickly politics and financing can reshape the map.
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