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| CHOUDHURY & GUPTA : INTERCONNECTION PROBLEM IN BANGLADESH |
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4.7. Management of Interconnect Exchange Normally interconnect exchange should be controlled and managed by a Steering Committee, comprising of representative of Regulator, Operators and the Industry Associations. The steering Committee should also monitor the performance of the Exchange and agree on the implementation of the new services and policy. The Steering Committee should appoint an operating team consisting of professionals to operate and maintain it on day- to- day basis. 4.8. Next Generation Technology for interconnect exchange Usage of VOIP can help to reduce the cost of transmission network as well as the switching platform by making efficient use of interconnecting transmission network and the ports in the Exchange. With an objective to deploy most efficient technology with future applications in mind it is ideal to go for Next Generation Network (NGN) technology based on IP. For this purpose a system consisting of Softswitch, Media Gateways and Optical Transmission in addition to Network Management System (NMS) and Billing system is required. 5. CHITTAGONG IP-POI PROJECT INITIATION Through the private operators had set up a tandem POI at Dhaka, the problem of interconnection still remained at Chittagong, another major city of Bangladesh. For this BTRC with the help and initiative of UNDP and ITU decided to set up an Interconnection Exchange known as the Point of Interconnection (POI) to serve as the model solution using the latest NGN/IP technology providing a multi purpose platform as a pilot project. 5.2. In order to get the involvement of the Govt. owned Bangladesh T&T Board and the four cellular mobile operators existing at that time several round of negotiations were held under the leadership of BTRC and with the help of Mr. K.K. Gunawardana the then Area Representative, BDT, ITU office at Bangkok. Though the conciliation process was started in March 2003, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU ) could only be signed on the 7th of December 2003 amongst the incumbent Govt. owned Operator (BTTB), four private sector cellular mobile operators under the supervision of BTRC all known as Partners of the Project forming a Consortium . This was designed to be a model POI with ITU and UNDP Support for funding of the consultancy services, the equipment to |
be funded by the Private operators, with BT&T Board providing the infrastructure facilities like space, power, security etc. 5.3. The proposed integrated facility was designed to perform the functions of a interconnect exchange. In addition a billing server was also provided for the purpose of interconnect billing and reconciliation. The total setup was to be managed with an integrated Network Management System. To start with the set up was required to meet the interconnection need of various operators which was considered to be of the order of 250 E 1s at that time. Keeping in view the future requirement, a minimum capacity of 400 E 1s was planned with a provision for future upgradation in modular form. 5.4. Chittagong IP-POI Project Funding After the MOU was signed disagreements started arising on the question of shares to different partners as to how much share will be held by each of them and the basis of it, how the operation and maintenance cost will be distributed, how the revenue sharing for the traffic passing through the POI should be done etc. Several meetings took place with the partners to resolve the differences amongst them and bring them to a consensus and finally an agreement was signed (by the Chief Executives) on the 5th of September 2004 amongst themselves and BTRC wherein BTRC was made the custodian of the part of share corresponding to the contribution made by ITU/UNDP. All the partners formed a consortium and one of the members/ partners of the consortium was given the responsibility to execute the project. BTRC, the Regulator was to supervise and monitor the project thereby facilitating interconnectivity, the fixation of the interconnect charges & dispute resolution and allied matters within the existing regulatory framework. For CAPEX, a contributory model was followed as a funding option, wherein each interconnecting operator had to share the capital cost according to the number of E 1s, interconnection links. Later on the same concept was extended to distribute the operational cost (OPEX) for the POI also. 5.5. Accordingly, all the partners contributed funds and a common fund for the project was created. The international competitive bidding (ICB) tender for the turnkey supply and installation of the POI was issued in October 2004 and subsequently the vendor (M/s. Huawei from China) was selected. Mr S N Gupta of TRAI was nominated by ITU to work as consultant for the project. After installation of the equipment the system was put for field trials and members of |