Telecom officials' leave cancelled in flood-affected areas

Leaves of all officials under various departments of Posts and Telecommunications Division (PTD) in the flood-affected areas have been canceled to maintain uninterrupted communication with the people.

The PTD, in the wake of the current flood situation in Feni, Cumilla and other areas, took the decision to repair the damaged towers to ensure communication, said a press release today (22 August).

Apart from this, the PTD also took some other decisions, including opening control rooms in the PTD and its different organisations alongside monitoring the overall situation in the flood-hit areas.

The list of officers' in-charge of the control rooms have been uploaded on the website, while emergency response teams have also been formed from BTRC, BTCL and Teletalk, said the press release.

The release said that as reported on 22 August at 8am, some 5,476 sites out of a total of 6,986 sites (towers) in 11 flood affected districts are operational, and the rate of dysfunctional tower is 21.6%.

Feni and Khagrachari districts recorded the most affected with 42.4% and 41.5% towers respectively.

Besides, work is on to make the dysfunctional towers operational.

With the help of Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited, 10 V-SATs have been kept ready for round-the-clock communication with people in the flood-affected areas, and out of which 5 V-SATs have been sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Feni.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has directed all mobile phone operators and tower-sharing companies to take necessary measures to keep mobile towers operational round the clock.

In addition, work is being done by establishing round-the-clock virtual communication with the telecom operators from BTRC and providing necessary instructions.

BTRC is also coordinating with concerned power transmission and distribution authorities to provide necessary assistance and ensure uninterrupted power connectivity at the sites of telecom operators.

The release said that telecom operators have been directed to take necessary measures including adequate power backup (battery backup, diesel generator, portable generator etc.) to keep their own network systems functional.

With the help of four mobile operators in the country, 500 megabytes of free data has been provided to mobile users in flood-affected areas.