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In order to harness the infotech potential of the Northeast and to make the region an IT hub, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has sought terrestrial cable-linking of the region with Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar rather than rely on the cable connectivity with Mumbai and Chennai.The proposed move may hugely enhance Internet speed in the Northeast and allow more IT-enabled industries, including call centres, to be set up in the region, that already has a sizeable English-speaking population.In an address during a meet on “Act East” policy held in the national capital on Friday, Mr Sonowal said: “India has only two landing stations of the international submarine fibre-optic cable network, which are located at Mumbai and Chennai; both of which are far from Northeast India. 

On the other hand, due to geographical closeness, the northeastern region can have better access of the network from Cox Bazaar landing station in Bangladesh.”The Cox’s Bazaar Internet gateway has already been accessed by India’s state-run BSNL but the bandwidth has not been brought to Assam and other northeastern states due to high rental costs.“If government of India can consider supporting BSNL in payment of rentals for initial few years, the region would be able to get the requisite high speed connectivity and bandwidth from Cox Bazar to become an IT hub,” the CM added.Traversing the sea bed, fibre-optic submarine communication cables carry telecommunication signals across continents, oceans and seas. Starting in the 1850s when the cables carried largely traffic for telegraph, and then progressing to telephony and data communications traffic, nowadays the fibre-optic cables carry digital data, which includes telephone, Internet and private data traffic.

According to figures given out by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, 97 per cent of all intercontinental data is carried via such cables. At the beginning of 2018, there were about 450 submarine cables in service across the globe extending for more than 1.2 million km  in total length.While thousands of communication satellites are deployed in space, when it comes to Internet connectivity, cables are far more preferred than satellite links because space communications is time consuming and very costly as compared with latest fibre-optic submarine links that can transmit data at almost the speed of light.Besides individuals and governments, users of fibre optic cable links include telecom carriers, mobile operators, multinational corporations, content providers etc.                     

Workers assemble cars at the Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Asia's factory pain worsens as China's recovery fails to lift demand.Asia’s factory pain deepened in May as the slump in global trade caused by the coronavirus pandemic worsened, with export powerhouses Japan and South Korea suffering the sharpest declines in business activity in more than a decade.A series of manufacturing surveys released on Monday suggest any rebound in businesses will be some time off, even though China’s factory activity unexpectedly returned to growth in May.China’s Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit 50.7 last month, marking the highest reading since January as easing of lockdowns allowed companies to get back to work and clear outstanding orders.But with many of China’s trading partners still restricted, its new export orders remained in contraction, the private business survey showed on Monday. China’s official PMI survey on Sunday showed the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy intact but fragile.

Japan’s factory activity shrank at the fastest pace since 2009 in May, a separate private sector survey showed while South Korea also saw manufacturing slump at the sharpest pace in more than a decade.Capital Economics said the region’s manufacturing sector is in deep recession.“Industry is likely to have seen an initial jump from the easing of lockdown restrictions. And things are likely to continue improving very gradually over the coming months as external demand recovers,” Capital Economics wrote. “But output is still likely to be well below normal levels for many months to come as domestic and global demand remain very depressed.”Taiwan’s manufacturing activity also fell in May. Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines saw PMIs rebound from April, though the indices all remained below the 50-mark threshold that separates contraction from expansion.Official data on Monday showed South Korea extending its exports plunge for a third straight month.Asia’s economic woes are likely to be echoed in other parts of the world including Europe, where economies continue to suffer huge damage in factory and service sectors.With many countries starting to ease lockdown restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus, which has infected over 5.5 million people globally, equity markets are rallying on hopes for a swift return to health and prosperity.

But the trough in global economic activity will be deeper and the rebound is likely to take longer than previously predicted as the pandemic spreads in waves.The International Monetary Fund warned last month the global economy will take much longer than expected to recover fully from the virus shock, suggesting a downgrade to its current projection for a 3% contraction this year.A U.S.-China spat over Hong Kong’s status and Beijing’s handling of the pandemic could sour business sentiment and add to already huge strains on the global economy.The final au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 38.4 from 41.9 in April, its lowest since March 2009.South Korea’s IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) edged down to 41.3 in May, the lowest since January 2009 and below 41.6 in April.