Mobile internet halts for 12 hrs

Most places across the country suffered from mobile internet disruption for 12 hours since Friday early morning due to a 'technical glitch'. The mobile internet service was restored at around 5.00 pm.

Acting chairman of Ban-gladesh Telecommunica-tion Regulatory Commis-sion (BTRC) Subrata Roy Maitra told media that it might have happened due to a technical fault.

The regulator did not come up with any formal statement about the technical glitch, and broadband internet connection did not face any outage.

However, a number of industry sources told the FE that the BTRC instructed mobile network operators (MNOs) to stop data services primarily to six districts, and later across the country.

The MNOs were asked  to stop mobile data service in Cumilla, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Brahmanbaria, Rajshahi and Chandpur since Friday early morning. Although the instruction was for six districts, mobile internet totally remained off across the country including Dhaka until 5.00 pm.

Grameenphone Head of External Communication Md Hasan said due to unavoidable circumstances, 4G and 3G services were temporarily unavailable.

"We are working closely with the authorities to restore the services," he told the FE.

Emergency online activities were also hampered, as people failed to get internet connection on their handsets.

Mobile financial services, card transactions, and many other necessary services were disturbed during the day.

"Card transactions may be temporarily affected due to nationwide unavailability of mobile internet. Sorry for the inconvenience," City Bank said to its clients in a text message.

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