Metronet lays first private fiber-optic network in city

How Metronet plans its network

The company promises end-to-end fiber optic connectivity to the last mile, thus entirely removing the need for copper wires, which have high maintenance costs and are easily susceptible to technical weathering and defects. The use of optical fiber ensures excellent bandwidth availability thus enhancing performance under critical load conditions.

"We offer guaranteed transmission latency of less than 10 milliseconds," says Ferdous Azam Khan, CEO, MBL. "The result is a higher data transfer rate compared to all other wireless, VSAT, or copper wire solutions that exists in the current IT market of the country."

Currently in the first phase of the project, the network already spans the north, central, south, east and west parts of the capital, covering Tongi to Sadarghat, Baridhara, Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar to Mirpur, Maghbazar, Eskaton, Rampura, Malibagh, Kakrail to Motijheel, Dilkusha, and their surrounding areas.

The network consists of eight loops and branches, reinforcing the data path. The multi-core network thus assures rerouting of specific data traffic even in case of a fatal cable failure. The fiber-optic technology offers an interesting solution to such events. "Laser rays are passed down the network, and basically gets reflected back from the point of non-connectivity," Azam clarifies. It is just some mathematical calculations away after which the point of non-connectivity is found out and teams from the company set out to fix it, thus cutting off replacement cost of any network lines.

The network-operating centre (NOC) of the company is geocentrically located in Sonartori Tower at Sonargaon Road, Dhaka. Equipped with state-of-art equipment, this NOC has a switching capacity of aggregate bandwidth exceeding 200 gigabits per second, which can be scaled up according to customer demand. The full-switch to futuristic optical metro ethernet deployment is one of the very first in the world scenario in case of a metropolitan area.

The network, running on transmission of noise-free data capacity using light as a carrier, ensures security and reliability with zero risk of distortion due to electromagnetic interference, static charge, or cross-talks generated from various sources in the external environment. Transmission security is further enhanced within, as tapping of radiant energy is virtually impossible, thus building a vast area of governmental and national interest. The technology also supports customized VPN, Firewall, and other security equipment measures, which allows prevention of unauthorized access to private networks.

"Once completed, our network will allow fiber connection of individual PCs to the submarine cable scheme once it enters the country," Azam says. However, at present, one drawback is the absence of a governmental master plan of the post-submarine-cable establishment in Bangladesh. Without an end-to-end fiber optic connection users will have to turn back to the copper wire connections used as a trend in the country to get onto the submarine cable network, thus renouncing quality and capacity of the bandwidth received.

"We also welcome local ISPs and bandwidth vendors to get connected within our fiber-optic network," says Azam. The connected ISPs would then have to route its channels using their own choice of cable network.

According to Azam, it is essential at present that a connected network is set among the internet users of the country. "Many among us are connected to the internet, but very few are connected among ourselves!" he exclaims. Mentioning how different international industrial networks (e.g. Pan American Airlines, AmTrac Railways, AT&T Telephone Company) allow the private sector to make use of their network, thus increasing connectivity, wider coverage and reliability, the CEO of MBL describes how this finally brings down the user-cost to a minimum. "The more we share our virtually inexhaustible network, the less each user have to pay," he cites, referring to local fiber optic foundations' reluctance to share their links for 'security' reasons.

A good example of local internetworking in Bangladesh is Grameen Phone's voice telephony network, which is connected to Bangladesh Railway's internal fiber optic network without compromising either organization's vital data security aspects. Bangladesh Railway optical fiber network was primarily laid to connect 1200 plus telephones with advanced electronic signaling equipment. Later, the network was leased to Grameen Phone, allowing quick expansion of the network, thus enhancing user compatibility and capacity.

Mentionable is the price tag that Bangladesh Tar & Telephone Board (BTTB) puts on a full duplex 64 kbps of net bandwidth, a sum of Taka 35,000 per month, in contrast with India's price of Rs 2,000/month for the same package. It is hoped that conservative approaches from the governmental offices will be withdrawn, making way for the BTTB network to provide private sector access at an affordable cost. Collective technical measures from the public sector are also required so that net connectivity can reach various points across Bangladesh with considerable affordability.