Mobile data service disruptions reported in Dhaka, surrounding areas
Residents in Dhaka and surrounding areas have experienced disrupted mobile data services for over 24 hours, significantly impacting the use of popular social media applications such as Facebook and Messenger.
Affected regions include Dhanmondi, Nilkhet, Palashi, Science Lab, Green Road, Jatrabari, and university-centric locations nationwide.
“I usually check my mail or stream music during my morning commute to the office, but today I couldn’t access the internet,” said Taj Islam, a private sector employee.
“Even though the network bar showed 3G, there was no internet connection. I even restarted my phone to see if it was a hardware issue, but there was no connectivity from Mohammadpur to Moghbazar,” he told The Business Standard.
The reports of interruption started to appear after Tuesday (16 July) midnight and have become more pronounced amid the nationwide student movement for quota reform, which has recently turned violent.
Since the early hours today (18 July), users in the capital and neighbouring areas like Narayanganj, Tongi, and Gazipur, reported facing significant inconvenience due to the ongoing disruption.
Earlier, the restriction on mobile data use was primarily imposed on university campuses over the past two days.
“The National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) has imposed the restriction, not the mobile operators,” said a senior executive at a leading mobile operator company, who wished to remain anonymous.
The NTMC has not made any official announcement regarding this.
Despite having sufficient data, users of Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, and Teletalk have reported being unable to access the internet via mobile data.
However, broadband services remain mostly unaffected, providing uninterrupted internet access in homes and offices with only sporadic reports of disruption.
According to service providers, these disruptions were a result of fiber optic cuts.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the mobile operators have not yet released an official statement addressing the issue.
Wishing not to be named, another mobile company official said there is no technical issue on their end, but there are ways to reduce internet speed at the customer level.
The restriction coincides with the deadly student protests in the last few days. All the universities have been declared closed indefinitely, and students have been asked to leave their dormitories.
The students’ platform for quota reform has called for a countrywide ‘complete shutdown’ across the country today (18 July).
