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Grameenphone, the largest mobile service provider in Bangladesh, is experiencing widespread network outages, prompting the nation’s telecom regulator to seek an explanation from the company and order the issues to be resolved quickly.
Grameenphone users in Dhaka, Chattogram, and other areas of the country have been experiencing outages since 11:30 am on Thursday.
Both voice and internet services provided by Grameenphone are down or out for millions of users across Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com.
In a statement posted to their Facebook page, Grameenphone said the loss of connection between fibre optic cables had led to the temporary issues. It ‘sincerely apologised’ for the problems its users were experiencing and promised to solve the issue as soon as possible.
“Our team is working with the utmost seriousness to try and resolve the situation quickly,” the statement read.
Asked about the issue, Khairul Bashar, Grameenphone’s head of communications, said, “At 11:45 am, we noticed some issues with the Grameenphone network. Fibre optic cables were disconnected at three locations in Tangail and Sirajganj, which has led to the problem.”
Of the 180 million mobile SIM users in Bangladesh, about 79.3 million or 42 per cent are Grameenphone subscribers. Many of them are now affected by the outages.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has also issued a notice instructing Grameenphone to take urgent action to restore its mobile network nationwide as soon as possible.
The regulator also sought proper explanations from the company about the network breakdown, describing the incident as a “national emergency”.
Many people took to social media to complain about the outage.