The telecom regulator has directed mobile phone operators to slow down internet speed across the country for 24 hours.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) made the directives on Saturday apparently in a bid to tackle the ongoing student protests.
According to UNB, the BTRC reportedly sent letters to mobile phone operators on Saturday evening asking them to slow down the internet speed.
However, sources at the telecom companies said they were directed to suspend 3G and 4G internet services.
Acting BTRC Chairman Md Jahurul Haque said that the technical department of the telecom regulator can take any decision considering the country's law-and-order situation.
He, however, replied in the negative to a question whether they have given any directive to this end.
Contacted, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ICT) Minister Mustafa Jabbar said he does not know whether there is any directive in this regard.
He also said there might be problems in the internet service due to technical reason.
A Grameenphone official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that they received a letter from the BTRC in the evening to this end.
Banglalink Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer Taimur Rahman said they did not receive any directive in this regard.
He, however, said they were experiencing disruption in this internet service.The directive came amid a student movement seeking safer roads in the country. The movement spread across the country through social media.
An unspecified number of students were injured in attacks in different areas of the capital as the students took to the streets for the 7th consecutive day on Saturday, managing traffic and examining driving licences and documents of vehicles.
Students of different school and colleges took to the streets in most places of the capital boycotting classes and examinations to press for their nine-point demand, including ensuring safety in roads and justice for the two students who were killed in a road accident in the capital, and resignation of Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan.
They were seen regulating traffic, checking driving licences of drivers and papers of vehicles.
On July 29, Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, students of the college section of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College, were killed as a 'Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan' bus ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road which sparked off protests among the students across the country.
