BTRC suspends 3G, 4G services

The telecom regulatory commission has instructed the mobile operators to suspend 3G and 4G services across the country ahead of the general election scheduled for today (Sunday).

In an e-mail sent to the mobile operators, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) asked them to postpone 3G and 4G services until 12:01 am on Monday.

However, it has also instructed them to keep 2G services available during this period.

Immediately after receiving the BTRC's instructions, mobile operators slowed down mobile internet service to 2G across the country.

The latest move taken by the BTRC means that mobile internet users will not be able to carry out any activities that may require heavy data flow.

At the same time, it will not be possible for them to carry out regular activities like uploading photos or streaming online videos. They may also struggle to run many useful apps which require huge data.

The move came just a day after mobile internet was slowed down for 10 hours from 10:00 pm on Thursday to 8:00 am on Friday.

The decision to slow down mobile internet was taken during a meeting held between the Election Commission (EC) and the BTRC earlier.

At present, there are 91.8 million internet subscribers in the country. Of them, around 86 million are mobile internet subscribers.

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