Bangladesh faces telecom shutdowns from Mideast fuel crisis
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Dhaka: Bangladesh faces a widespread shutdown of mobile phones without rapid improvements in fuel shortages sparked by the Middle East war, operators said on April 20.
The South Asian nation of 170 million people imports 95 per cent of its oil and gas, mostly from the Middle East, and shortages have hit hard, with queues at filling stations lasting for as long as 12 hours.
The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said on April 20 that continued telecom operations can no longer be sustained without the fuel needed to power operations including data centres.
“The situation has escalated beyond the operational control,” AMTOB wrote in a letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
“If these conditions persist, there is an imminent risk of large-scale telecom network shutdowns across significant parts of the country.”
It said the impact had already begun.
“Mobile network operators (MNOs) are experiencing severe operational distress due to the prolonged unavailability of commercial power and the lack of assured fuel supply for backup systems,” it said.
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