98 percent of mobile towers are operational in flood-affected areas

The network system of 11 flood-affected districts in the south-eastern part of the country was paralyzed. However, as the water recedes, the mobile towers of these areas have started to operate. At present, around 98 percent of the towers in the flood-affected areas are operational. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Temporary Monitoring and Control Room has informed this information on Friday (August 30).

According to data updated as of 5pm on Thursday (August 29), telecommunication services are still being disrupted in 11 districts in the southeastern part of the country. The districts are Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Moulvibazar, Sylhet, Habiganj, Chittagong, Khagrachari, and Cox's Bazar.

According to the information received, among these districts, 71 in Noakhali, 20 in Laxmipur, 73 in Feni, 18 in Comilla, 24 in Brahmanbaria, 27 in Chittagong, seven in Khagrachari, 13 in Habiganj, 9 in Moulvibazar, 27 in Sylhet and 11 in Cox's Bazar, a total of 300 towers are out of order.

There are total 14 thousand 551 towers in these flood affected districts. Of which 14 thousand 251 are active. As a result, the number of inactive towers is only 2.1 percent.

BTRC said that various efforts are underway to make the remaining towers operational. As part of this, mobile operators and towerco operators are being co-ordinated with the Bangladesh Army to transport technical manpower, network equipment, generators and fuel etc.

It is known that Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink operators have been given one truck and speedboat assistance. Apart from this, due to the receding of flood water, road communication environment has been created in different places. For this, the necessary trucks are being supplied through coordination with Towerco Operator Summit and Edtco as per demand.

Brigadier General Kazi Mustafizur Rahman, Director General of Engineering and Operations Department of BTRC, said that it is possible to activate the network quickly as the army coordinates the technical manpower of mobile operators, towerco operators, network equipment, generators and fuel transport. It is expected that all the towers in the districts will be fully operational within a day or two.

Incidentally, floods have occurred in various districts of the southeastern part of the country due to torrential downpours and continuous rains. Due to the high water volume and height, the green field of the tower of the mobile operator company in these areas also got submerged. As a result, the connection of the tower started to fail from last August 22. More than 2,000 towers were rendered inoperable by the flood, which are gradually being repaired and operational.

Bangladesh /OF