Thousands affected by mobile service suspension in Gulshan-2

Around 10,000 people of the highly populated Gulshan-2 area were affected by the mobile service suspension at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's office in the area today, according to industry officials.

Half square km area around the office of BNP is now out of coverage, an official of a mobile operator said.

All modes of wired and wireless communication--- mobile, internet, land-phone lines -- were snapped at the BNP chief's Gulshan office between 8:00am and 3:30pm today.

The action affected users in nearby areas because of shutting down of the networking equipment.

Grameenphone in a statement said: “On Saturday, January 31 2015, at 3.38am Grameenphone and other mobile and WiMAX operators received written directive from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to restrict access to all mobile services (voice and data) to a specific address in Gulshan-2, Dhaka. The directive is based on "security reasons" and until further notice.”

“Due to this restriction, Grameenphone's customers in some part of the Gulshan-2 area of Dhaka may experience disruptions on mobile services. Grameenphone promotes open services and we sincerely regret any inconvenience caused to our valued customers in this regard,” the statement added.

Contacted, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose refused to comment on the matter.

Our reporter stationed outside Khaleda Zia's office said he had to move either near Gulshan 2 intersection or near Baridhara Lake to dial or receive mobile phone calls since 2:00pm.

"Teletalk users can however make calls. Although network connections of other operators appear on mobile screen, calls are not coming or going," he said.