Decision on mobile internet restoration after meeting with AMTOB: Palak

State Minister of Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Saturday said a meeting with mobile operators will be held on Sunday to discuss the restoration of mobile internet 4G services.

He said this while addressing an event held at Agargaon in the capital marking Sajeeb Wazed Joy's 54th birthday, reports UNB. 

“A meeting with the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) will be held at 9 am tomorrow, and if the meeting is satisfactory, the 4G network will be restored by Sunday or Monday,” Palak said.

He claimed the internet was not intentionally shut down but was disrupted due to the burning of three data centers and hundreds of kilometers of cables.

These incidents caused a loss of Tk500 crore in the telecom sector alone and a total loss of hundreds of crores of taka, he added.

He also said that there were attacks at 17 locations in Dhaka Division. “In Mohakhali, three data centers housed 18 IIG systems, which host 70 per cent of the ISP servers, causing the internet disruption. We did not intentionally shut down the internet.”

Palak claimed that the disruption was a result of planned sabotage.

“Analysis of mobile operator data from July 18 showed that 50,000 to 100,000 new SIM cards were used in areas including Uttara, Rampura, Mohammadpur, Jatrabari, and Gazipur,” he said.