Too often, state entities deny problems until they become unmanageable, before finally admitting the crisis. We saw this pattern in the banking sector and the energy sector. The public was reassured for years that everything was fine, only to be hit by crippling crises later. The current government is well aware of the political volatility of internet shutdowns.
The previous government’s decision to shut down the internet resulted in massive economic losses and a severe blow to its legitimacy.
The public can tolerate load shedding of electricity, they complain, but they cope. They cannot and will not tolerate an internet crisis. If the country descends into a bandwidth shortage in 2028 or 2029, the anger will not be directed at undersea cables or technical faults; it will be directed at the government.
Therefore, a humble plea to the authorities is to treat this not as a technical issue for the telecom ministry, but as a sovereign issue. It is a matter of "digital sovereignty." We cannot allow our digital future to be decided solely by a single state-owned company that has a vested interest in maintaining its monopoly. An independent audit of the bandwidth demand projections is necessary. The Prime Minister’s Office should convene a high-level meeting involving BTRC, BSCPLC, the private consortium, and independent international consultants.
The goal should not be to prove who is right, but to find out what is true. The digital highway is as critical to Bangladesh as its physical roads and bridges. We would not leave the construction of a major bridge solely to a single company without scrutiny.
The internet is the bridge to the global economy. It is time to set aside the ego of state agencies and the suspicions regarding private investors. It is time to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and build a network that can sustain the dreams of Bangladesh digitally. The time to act is now. If we wait for the crisis to arrive, it will be too late to build the ship.
* Naim-Ul-Karim Sanchaya, Special correspondent & in-charge at Xinhua News Agency’s Dhaka Bureau office.
* The writer is a journalist and opinions expressed are solely his own and don’t express the views or opinions of his employer.
