Internet speed slows down as portions of 2nd submarine cable damaged 

Internet users are now experiencing slow speed as some portions of the country's second submarine cable in Patuakhali were damaged on Sunday noon.  

The bandwidth supply by internet service providers has been halved because of the problem with the submarine cable. 

"A local upazila chairman dug out a land nearby the cable station and cut off some portions of optical fibre cables of the second submarine cable (SEA-ME-WE-5) in Patuakhali. The station in-charge is now working to repair the damaged cables," said Mashiur Rahman, managing director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL). 

However, he could not tell how much damage occurred in the line and how long it will take to resume the supply. 

Bangladesh's first submarine cable was added to the "C-M-We-4" in 2005. And in September 2016, the second submarine cable was connected to the C-MI-5 submarine cable through the landing station at Kalapara in Patuakhali.

Through this station, Bangladesh gets 1,500 gigabits of internet per second from the submarine cable of the Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe International Consortium.

Internet service providers (ISPs) said that about half of the bandwidth used in the country is supplied from the second submarine cable. Therefore, internet users are facing slow internet speed as the line is closed. 

ISPs said the problem started from Sunday noon. They are now providing half of the bandwidth.

In addition to the submarine cable, Bangladesh is now connected to the World Wide Web through six alternative means (International Terrestrial Cable).
According to internet service providers, the country currently uses about 1,700Gbps of bandwidth.