Comilla-Noakhali mobile tower is operational

At least 12 districts of the country have been affected by severe floods. Almost all areas of this district have been cut off due to lack of electricity connection. Law and order forces and volunteers are struggling to carry out rescue and relief activities.

According to BTRC, telecom services have started improving in Comilla, Noakhali and Lakshmipur since Friday (August 23) night. The mobile network is also gradually functioning there after the electricity connection is restored. The number of districts where telecom services are disconnected has also decreased.

But Feni is in the worst condition. The mobile towers in the district cannot be activated despite efforts. On the contrary, more and more towers are reported to be defunct. Till the last news about 93 percent of the mobile towers in the district have become useless. This is increasing the concern of people.

According to the latest information from BTRC's Engineering and Operations Department, telecommunication services are still being disrupted in some areas of 10 of the 12 flood-affected districts. They are Feni, Noakhali, Comilla, Laxmipur, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Khagrachari, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet.

Feni is in the worst condition. 92.6 percent of the mobile towers or sites of the district are now inactive. Of the 653 towers there, 605 are down. Only 48 are operational. Operators are worried about how long it will be possible to keep them running.

Despite the bad situation for the last two days, there has been some improvement in the telecommunication services of Comilla and Noakhali. 175 out of 1,151 towers in Noakhali and 243 out of 2,529 towers in Comilla are defunct. The rest are active. The operators said that it will be possible to make the non-working towers operational quickly.

Apart from this, 36 mobile towers in Lakshmipur, 10 in Brahmanbaria, 86 in Chittagong, 30 in Khagrachari, three in Habiganj, 40 in Moulvibazar and 7 in Sylhet are inactive.

The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology said that 10 V-SATs were kept ready. Five of them have been sent to the Feni District Administrator. All possible efforts are being made to maintain telecommunication services using V-sats.

Telecom operators have been instructed to take necessary measures including keeping their own network systems intact and keeping adequate power backup (battery backup, diesel generator, portable generator etc.).

Bangladesh /OF