An internet blackout would take place anytime between 5:30pm today and 2:00am tomorrow in any particular area of Dhaka city as part of a drill to see if the authorities could shut down internet operation in case of an emergency like the Holey Artisan Bakery incident.
This decision was taken at a meeting between the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) on “total internet blackout drill”.
The BTRC notified the decision to all the related ISPs asking them to acknowledge the instruction by replying immediately through mentioning the time of receipt, then ensure total internet blackout of the particular area as instructed in the mail.
And once the blackout is done, the ISPs were asked to confirm through another reply to the BTRC.
“This drill may last for half an hour to one hour,” said a member of the ISPAB.
“The purpose of this drill is to see if the ISPs can coordinate among themselves properly when there is a national crisis to isolate an affected area,” he added. “This is basically a test of our ability to do so.”