At least 12 districts of the country were hit by severe floods and the telecommunication network was almost cut off for a week. As many as 84 percent of mobile towers in the affected districts were shut down due to power outages. BTRC formed Emergency Response Team to deal with the situation. A 24-hour observation cell was opened. However, the situation worsened as the flood raged. At one point, the telecommunication was cut off for the common people.
V-SATs therefore were used to carry out rescue and relief operations. HAM operators are also added. The regulator freed up fuel supply to the worst-hit Feni district to restore power backup to mobile operators. At the same time, water transportation facilities are provided for maintenance.
As a result, the mobile network started to return slowly. As of Thursday afternoon, 98 percent of the networks in the affected 11 districts have been restored.
The regularly updated monitoring report of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission BTRC says that as a result of the immediate steps taken to ensure the telecommunication network, only 14,551 sites in flood-affected Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Chattogram, Khagrachari, Habiganj, Moulibibazar, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar have been restored. 300 sites are not yet operational. However, of the 14,251 operational sites, 89 percent of the worst-affected sites have returned to the network. Out of 653 sites there, only 73 are down.
However, Chattogram as a district has the highest number of 4,231 sites out of 4,258 sites. Out of 2529 sites in Comilla, 18 sites are not active. Similarly, 6.2 percent in Noakhali, 2.9 percent in Laxmipur, 2.3 percent in Brahmanbaria, 3 percent in Khagrachari, 1.8 percent in Habiganj, 1.4 percent in Maulvi Bazar, 1.8 percent in Sylhet and only 1 percent in Cox’s Bazar are not operational. On an average, only 2.1 percent of the sites in the 11 districts are inactive.
Brigadier General Kazi Mustafizur Rahman, Director General of Engineering and Operations Department of BTRC, said that efforts are being made to quickly activate the network in coordination with the Bangladesh Army to transport mobile operators, towerco operators, technical manpower, network equipment, generators and fuel etc. Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink have been given one truck and one speedboat each.
