More than 5,000 mobile towers shut down due to bad weather

Telecommunication services in Bangladesh are experiencing widespread disruption following significant power outages caused by severe weather conditions. 

More than 5,000 mobile towers have gone offline across the country, affecting network coverage in numerous regions. The shutdown of mobile towers, technically referred to as base transceiver stations, was confirmed by Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, special assistant to the chief adviser for the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page on May 30 morning, Faiz Taiyeb said that more than 5,000 sites had gone offline due to loss of mains power. He added that 8262 (44 percent) mobile sites were affected by mains failure, among which 5904 (35.8 percent) sites were down while 64.2 percent remained operational.

Telecommunication services have been disrupted in various parts of the country due to the impact of natural disasters such as low-pressure storms and tidal waves, and power supply systems. Telecommunication service providers including Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (Palli Bidyut) are working tirelessly to restore the network, according to Faiz Taiyeb.

Faiz Taiyeb identified several severely affected regions, including Dhaka North, Barisal, southern Sylhet, Tangail, Chandpur, Mymensingh, Comilla, Noakhali, and southern Chattogram regions. In response to the outages, 504 portable generators (PG) have been deployed or are en route to support recovery efforts and restore service along with 624 PG currently being connected, as per Taiyeb.