Tangled web of overhead cables

Internet service providers and cable TV operators are stringing up illegal overhead cables all over the capital. The messy tangle of these cables, along with the cables of telephone and electricity lines, are not only an eyesore, but pose as a the risk for accidents.

The government committee formed to remove these illegal cables said that despite removing the cables several times, the cable operators and internet service providers simply hang them up again.

The committee’s secretary general Badrul Alam told Prothom Alo, “Unless Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) becomes stricter in terms of giving licenses to internet businessmen, this problem will not be solved.”

However, BTRC media wing director Zakir Hossain Khan said, “Thanks to BTRC’s actions, illegal overhead cables have reduced significantly.”

Terming the removal of cables as an “ongoing process”, he said that the service organisations of the government have to be more coordinated to take care of this problem.

During a field trip on Sunday and Monday, tangled mess of cables were seen on the way to Gulshan from Banani and Mohakhali, as well as in various streets of Karwan Bazar and Mirpur. In many places, these illegal cables were seen entangled with telephone and electricity lines, as well as with the poles electric transformers. The transformers, wrapped with all these cables, can burst anytime and cause serious accidents.

The transformer nearby Banani C-Block’s police box is entangled with cables. An on-duty policeman said that some young men conduct regular maintenance of these cables. As they work on live wires,the risk of accident is always there. They don’t even listen to the police, he said.

Illegal overhead cables are hanging from every electric pole and street lamp near the Banani office of Dhaka North City Corporation. On Tuesday, around 12:30pm, two men were seen stringing up cables in front of the DNCC office. The men said that they face no hassle in putting these cables. The cable removal committee pulls down the cables once a year, but the businessmen simply have them up again within the hour.

Following the model of many developed countries, Bangladesh government has set up Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN), an underground common network system that does not require any overhead cable. All the cables can be connected to an underground management system, and without interrupting the internet connection, the cables can be connected to the system within 24 hours. However, NTTN is not available all over Dhaka.

President of the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (aiesapiebi), MA Hakim said, “Due to the unavailability of NTTN facilities in all the areas of the capital, and the action of some unlicensed organisations, the problem of overhead cables persists. A long term plan is required for all the cables in an over populated city like Dhaka.”