Bangladesh regulator unblocks bdnews24.com after hours of shutdown

Regulators have unblocked bdnews24.com’s websites after hours of shutdown in a sudden, but unexplained move.

The sites can now be accessed by using both the mobile internet and broadband.

Telecoms regulator BTRC had ordered mobile phone and international internet gateway operators to block both English and Bangla websites in two separate notices on Monday afternoon.

The BTRC did not explain the reason for the shutdown order in either of the two notices, but its acting boss Jahurul Haque later said the shutdown was dictated by “government high-ups”. 

The BTRC issued another notice at 10pm ordering the telecom operators to unblock the sites. 

The outage affected a large, but unspecified number of its readers for hours.

bdnews24.com is the largest news publisher of the country by reach and volume with 10 million unique visitors and 100 million page views a month. Its Facebook page has 8.7 million followers.