Speedy mobile internet blocked again after brief resumption

The authorities have taken down mobile phone internet services again following a brief resumption at the end of voting.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 Dec 2018, 02:41 PM
Updated : 30 Dec 2018, 05:46 PM

Around two hours after the voting ended at 4pm on Sunday, the mobile phone operators reactivated their internet services on instructions from the regulator BTRC.

An official of a mobile phone operator told bdnews24.com that customers had started accessing 4G, 3G and 2G internet services on their devices.

But around 9pm, the regulator again asked to deactivate the 3G and 4G mobile internet services, the official said.

The outage will remain in force until further orders from the regulator, he said.

The telecom operators halted 3G and 4G services on Saturday afternoon. Later in the night, the operators received orders to stop 2G internet services as well.

BTRC Senior Assistant Director (Media) Zakir Hossain Khan had earlier told bdnews24.com: “For state security and to prevent the spread of rumours, mobile phone operators have been instructed by email to shut down 3G and 4G internet services.”

Mobile 3G and 4G data services were also shut down for 10 hours on Thursday night and Friday morning. It resumed around 8:30am on Friday only to be shut down again on Saturday afternoon.