Authorities slow mobile internet to quell student protests

Authorities have asked telecom operators to slow the mobile internet in an attempt to quell student protests.

The latest step came hours after violent clashes between students and Awami League activists left some people injured in Dhaka’s Jigatala on Saturday afternoon.

Mobile operators have been instructed to reduce the internet speed to 1.28 kbps, telecom officials with knowledge of the instruction from the authorities told bdnews24.com.

Mobile users also complained that they faced outages of 3G and 4G services.

The operators moved to implement the instruction in the evening, a telecom official said on the condition of anonymity.

The official could not say how long the instruction will remain in force.

Users will find it hard to post pictures on the social media with the speed of 1.28 kbps.

“No such instruction was given. The internet is working fine,” Jahurul Haque, acting chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, told bdnews24.com.