20 thousand 143 sites of mobile operators in 64 districts of the country are now down due to the impact of Cyclone Rimal. The percentage is 34.6 percent. Earlier, 32 thousand 906 sites were down till 10 am. The sites are being activated gradually. This information is known from the monitoring cell formed by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) centered on Cyclone Rimal.
According to the latest data of the monitoring cell, 38 thousand 155 or 65 percent of the 58 thousand 298 sites of mobile operators in 64 districts are operational till 3 pm on Tuesday (May 28). And there are 20 thousand 143 sites or 34.6 percent inactive. Earlier, 32 thousand 906 sites were down till 10 am. BTRC said that the sites are down due to prolonged power outage.
Among these idle sites are 1104, Chittagong 1101, Dhaka 696, Gazipur 644, Tangail 630, Mymensingh 842, Sylhet 743 Chandpur 601, Narsingdi 526, Barisal 652, Habiganj 528 More or less sites are closed in every district including T has
Analyzing the comparative picture of the effect of the cyclone on the mobile network, it can be seen that last Sunday (May 26) at 10 pm in 17 districts, the amount of inactive sites was 2 thousand 460 (32 percent). On Monday (May 27) at 10 am in 45 districts, the amount was 8 thousand 410 (28 percent ) at 4 p.m. it was 22 thousand 218 in 64 districts (48.71 percent), at 10 p.m. it was 55 percent. At 10 a.m. in 60 districts, the number of inactive sites was 32 thousand 906 (56 percent). 20 thousand 143 sites (34.6 percent) were reduced in 59 districts at 3 p.m. As the number of sites in 4-5 districts was less than 5 percent, those districts were considered free from the impact of the cyclone.
Prolonged power outages have been blamed for site downtime. However, the BTRC also said that the re-connection of the electricity connection is speeding up the site every moment.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Director General (E&O) Brigadier General Kazi Mustafizur Rahman said that the number of inactive sites in the overall network has decreased. Currently, after re-establishment of power connections in various regions, 56 percent of the sites are down to 34.6 percent.
President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumer Association Mohiuddin Ahmed said that the customer’s demand for telecommunication and internet services in the country has increased continuously, but the customer’s suffering of substandard service has reached its peak. And this is due to insufficient towers, substandard microwaves, substandard batteries, over head fiber and no generator.
He said that the number of active SIM holders in the country is about 192.6 million, but on the contrary, there are 45 thousand 231 towers where there are about one lakh. Among them, Robi has 2,296, Grameenphone 12,526, Banglalink 4,621, Teletalk 621 and AB Hitech Consortium 860, Edtco 16,683, Summit 4,388 and Kirtankhola 621 and BTCL 500. 14. Again, in 2018, BTRC created the policy by licensing four private Towerco companies. It is said that the mobile operator will not be able to build new towers. That is, they have to take services from Towerco company in exchange of money. These tower companies basically buy towers from mobile operators. The microwaves in these towers are not up to standard, and the batteries are also out of standard. What is the reason for the network going down when the power goes out where six hours of power back is supposed to be provided?
He said, “Our request to the Ministry of Telecommunication and BTRC is to monitor the microwave quality and battery type.” Also, as the country’s fiber optic is still 65 percent overhead, when there is a storm, the fiber is cut and the network is disconnected. We believe that if the regulatory authorities and concerned parties do not take initiative to resolve the issues quickly, there may be bigger disruptions to the network in the future.