Zunaid Ahmed Palak. Photo: Collected
Household users will have their broadband internet connections restored by tonight (24 July), State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said on Wednesday (24 July).
Following a meeting with internet service providers at the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the capital, the state minister said the limited broadband service will not include social media usage.
During the meeting, Palak expected that mobile internet could be restored by next Monday (29 July).
Mobile internet, which has nearly 12.7 crore connections in the country, was shut down on Thursday (18 July) midnight last week. Around 9:00pm on the same day, broadband service was also disconnected, leaving the country detached from the cyber world.
The government had blamed terrorist attacks over Thursday and Friday on critical infrastructures including the ones related to internet connectivity for the reason behind the blackout.
Following urgent repairs, broadband internet restoration began experimentally for users deemed crucial for the economy from Tuesday.
According to Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB), around 40% of over 1.1 crore broadband internet connections across the country were restored by 1.00pm on Wednesday.
Households were least prioritised initially and will be reconnected tonight as per the state minister's announcement.
However, poor speed remained a problem for the users and both the service providers and the government assured of a gradual improvement.
Earlier, ISPAB claimed that nearly 40% of the country's over 1.1 crore broadband connections have been restored in the past 17 hours.
However, firms and families had been struggling to use the internet smoothly due to poor speed and the data-hungry commercial activities were yet to get back to normal till 1:00pm on wednesday.
ISPAB President Md Emdadul Hoque told the media, all the government offices, emergency services, hospitals across the country got broadband internet back.
Messenger/Sumon
