Internet use drops sharply

Mobile data usage dropped over 22 percent after the government blocked Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp Wednesday.

The Daily Star collected information from three mobile carriers yesterday and it was seen that total bandwidth usage through the three carriers dropped to 229 Terabits on Wednesday from 296 Terabits on Tuesday.

The data usage was close to 200 Terabits yesterday, said senior executives of the carriers requesting not to be named.

“No doubt Facebook is one of the major data consumer in our country, even digital marketing and sometimes trades are done on this platform,” said a senior executive of a mobile carrier.

On Wednesday, telecommunication regulator BTRC blocked Facebook and online messaging and calling services WhatsApp and Viber just an hour after the Supreme Court delivered verdicts upholding the death penalties of war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

The authorities said they were well aware of the situation but they would not make any decision to lift the ban before getting the home ministry's nod.

However, sources said the government might think about lifting the ban after three to four days for a short while and see what happens.

State Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Tarana Halim said a single life is more important than “Facebooking and free chatting”.

The ban would be lifted when the government felt it was safe to do so, she said yesterday after a meeting with her ministry colleagues and experts of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

“We are sorry for the inconvenience of the users, even I am suffering but we need to understand the situation,” Tarana added.

She said some people were circumventing the block and enjoying Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber and that the experts were working to stop the going around.

In response to a query, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told parliament that suspension of Facebook, Viber, and WhatsApp was temporary and that many countries take such steps on occasions.

The government had also “mistakenly” shutdown the internet on Wednesday for the first time in the country's history.

Even though internet was restored in about 75 minutes after the shutdown, many users yesterday complained about poor speed and other difficulties.

About 10 percent of the Internet service is down, Suman Ahmed Sabir, chief strategy officer of an International Internet Gateway (IIG) Fibre@Home, told The Daily Star.

“Also, the blocking of Viber and WhatsApp has caused some websites to become inaccessible,” he claimed while explaining the reason behind slow internet.

On November 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament that WhatsApp and Viber could be temporarily blocked when needed in order to capture militants and prevent their criminal activities.

Some people were carrying out criminal activities with the help of these apps, she said.

On January 18 this year, the regulator had blocked Viber, WhatsApp, Tango, Mypeople and Line for four days.

The government also blocked Facebook during the BDR mutiny in 2009 and YouTube for 260 days between September 2012 and June 2013.