Digital services at ease as mobile internet is back

The telecom regulator withdrew the 37-hour suspension on mobile internet services yesterday at 10am.

The 3G and 4G services, and at times even 2G internet, have been kept shut for a total of over 74 hours in the last five days, said officials of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

During this time, people were unable to stream or upload pictures or videos from their phones.

A good number of digital services, especially Facebook-based e-commerce and ridesharing facilities, were also halted for three days centring the 11th parliamentary elections on December 30.

Mobile financial services were also blocked while ATM services and credit cards could not be accessed in a lot of places as there are banks which use wireless services, said a senior executive of a leading telecom operator.

Data revenue stood at almost zero while that from voice calls surprisingly declined, causing some 30 percent drop in total earnings, according to the operators.

Data revenue for all the operators combined amounts to around Tk 12 crore every day.

“After resumption of the 3G and 4G services, there has been less than half of the regular usage as most of the regular users are unaware of the new development,” said the executive.

“We cannot communicate the issue with the customer,” informed the official.

None of the mobile operators, business entities and telecom regulator has issued an official explanation.

However, the immediate past telecom minister, Mustafa Jabbar, said it was true that some people faced challenges in some cases.

“But saving lives is more important than losing a hundred crore taka business,” was what he said.

“When I was holding office we had taken a decision to block mobile internet for a few weeks before the election and I think that was a correct decision,” said Jabbar.

According to the BTRC, there were 8.78 crore active internet connections in the country as of June this year, 93.43 percent of which were on mobile phones.

As of November 2018, over 6 crore people were using 3G and 4G services.

Mobile operators said the number of internet users also declined in the last two weeks. December's figure will be less than that of November, they added.

Earlier, the BTRC slowed down internet speed for almost 24 hours amidst demonstrations for safe roads.

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