The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) on Saturday launched its 7th Point of presence of National Internet Exchange (NIX) service for Mymensingh division in a bid to keep data within the country.

Inspector General of the Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments under the Ministry of Labor and Employment Md. Abdur Rahim Khan inaugurated the Smart Telecom service at Golden Tulip-The Landmark Hotel, Banani, Dhaka.

The event was organized by Bangladesh Internet Service Providers Internet Exchange Trust.

In his speech, Abdur Rahim Khan said that Prime Minister announced Digital Bangladesh now we are moving towards Smart Bangladesh.

He said ISPAB's NIX across the country will protect us from the dangers of the Internet. This network will play an important role in establishing Smart Bangladesh protecting us from natural and man-made disasters, he stated.

The NIX is the exchange point for passing internet traffic within the country.

The service facilitates local content development, encourages local web hosting and reduces latency in domestic traffic, thereby saving international bandwidth and foreign currencies.

The ISPAB has plans to set up points of presence (POPs) of service in all major cities by this year, according to ISPAB President Md Emdadul Hoque.

“With this POP, our NIX service will be able to reduce international internet bandwidth purchase by 100GBPS in total, saving hundreds of crore of taka in the long run,”

Bangladesh Internet Service Providers Internet Exchange Trust, owned by the association, will run the ISPAB’s NIX service.

The international bandwidth consumption in Bangladesh now stood at 5,200Gbps, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.