Blackout disrupts mobile phone, internet services

A failure in the national grid disrupted telecommunication and internet services in major parts of the country on Tuesday.

“Due to the national grid failure, telecommunication services may be disrupted in some parts of the country. We are sorry for the inconvenience,” said the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.

Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, said the power grid tripped and there were outages in Dhaka as well as eastern regions starting at 2:04pm.

Power returned to parts of the capital when this report was filed in the evening.

Grameenphone Head of Communications Khairul Bashar said every telecom operator has its own back-up. “The back-up can work for various durations depending on efficiency.”

He also said subscribers in some areas were still getting services but they might face difficulties if the outage lasted longer.

Around 30,000 towers of three private operators – Robi, Grameenphone, and Banglalink – located in areas affected by the outage could face problems, officials said. 

Subscribers of all four operators experienced network disruptions in Dhaka city, except for some towers located in important locations as those are equipped with diesel generators. Those towers remained operational even after complete battery discharge.

Services were restored in some places after 6:30pm.

Mosharof Hossain, a Grameenphone customer in Tejgaon, said he could not make phone calls or use mobile internet between 5pm and 6:30pm.

“Services were restored afterwards. Before that, my phone showed that network is available but I could not call my friend in Azimpur area,” he said.

Base transceiver stations (BTSs), also known as mobile phone towers, play an important role in providing uninterrupted telecommunication services. They can be kept operational for two to five hours with a generator in case of power failures.