Almost all mobile towers in Feni are down – Bangladesh Diplomat

Around 11 percent mobile towers in 10 flood-affected districts of the country are down. In Feni district alone, 92 percent of the towers are down. Network cannot be activated due to power outage and submerged tower area.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said this in the updated information on the mobile network situation in the flood-affected areas up to 3 pm today.

BTRC said, out of 13,240 towers in Feni, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Khagrachari, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet districts, 1,461 towers were out of order till 3 pm today. Out of this, 91.9 percent towers of Feni district have become non-operational. After that, more than 21 percent of Noakhali district, more than 15 percent of Khagrachari and about 14 percent of Comilla towers are non-operational.

BTRC said coordination work is underway to operate towers in the affected areas with the help of the army. However, the tower areas which have sunk, cannot be started until the water recedes. Rehabilitation of damaged towers in Feni district has become challenging and time-consuming. Apart from this, BTRC has feared that communication establishment activities will be disrupted due to worsening flood situation in Sylhet and Moulvibazar areas.

The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief said that 11 districts in the country have been affected by floods. The number of flood affected people in these districts is about 45 lakh. 8 lakh 87 thousand 629 families have become watertight. Many areas of these districts have been submerged due to heavy rains and upstream water.