Bangladesh regulators to close down 204 ISPs for breaching rules

The BTRC has decided to pull the plug on 204 internet service providers (ISP) in Bangladesh.

The telecoms regulators in a letter on Tuesday asked all International Internet Gateway (IIG) and ISPs to sever the connections of these entities by Aug 25 midnight.
 
These ISPs’ application for license renewal will not be approved, it said, adding that legal actions against them will also follow.
 
According to BTRC, there are more than 500 ISPs across the country under the categories of A, B and C.
 
Of the 204 ISPs that are going out of business, 33 provide internet at nationwide level, 23 central zone, 13 regional, 70 in Dhaka Metropolitan (Category A), 26 in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet metropolises (Category B) and 39 in the other city corporations (Category C).
 
BTRC Secretary Md Sarwar Alam told bdnews24.com that these ISPs had not provided necessary information to them after securing licence and they are yet to pay their dues.
 
“These ISPs never gave the information regarding how much internet bandwidth they have been receiving and from whom, or how many clients they have.”
 
He said the BTRC decided to shut them down after several letters to these ISPs drew no response.
 
The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh’s Secretary Emdadul Haque told bdnews24.com that many of the ISPs were already closed. 
The BTRC did not get any response from them in the past six months.
 
He added that closure of these ISPs will not affect their business in anyway.