200 ISPs to be shut down

The Bangladesh Telecommu­nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has decided to shut down 200 internet service providers (ISPs) for being involved in illegal activities or for not providing services for many years. The regulator has already served notices to the companies to cease all their activities from 1 July. According to the BTRC’s documents, the total number of ISP licensees is 603, and a third of the licensees would be shut down for ever, sources said to The Independent.
In a letter, Md Nahidul Islam, the BTRC’s senior assistant secretary, told international gateways that the commission has repeatedly requested all ISPs to send information about their business activities to its relevant department. But more than 200 ISPs have failed to submit their information. After the procedure, the commission instructed the IIGs to reduce 50 per cent of their bandwidth load by 18 June 2016, subject to providing the information that was earlier sought. But only 15 ISPs have sent their information to the commission. So BTRC has decided to shut down 200 ISPs, which include 41 nationwide and 27 central zone licensees. BTRC official said the ISPs that are going to be shut down may be involved in illegal bandwidth trade or were not providing any services to their customers, as some of the letters that were posted were coming back to the commission. The government has decided to take stringent action against such ISPs, which are not cooperating with its agencies.
The president of the ISPs’ Association, Abdul Kakim, told The Independent that “we are not happy with the BTRC’s decision regarding the 200 ISPs. We have been demanding some 2,500 to 3,000 illegal ISPs (which do not have legal licences from the commission) should be shut down as soon as possible, but this has not been done”. The ISPs’ Association has only 79 members as the criterion is that the company must have a nationwide licence to be eligible for membership. The internet uses 230 to 240 gigabytes (GB) per second (Gbps) per month and, of that, five mobile operators consume 70 to 80 Gbps. The rest is consumed by the ISPs. In official documents, ISPs have 4 million broadband customers and mobile operators 63 million internet users.

 

 

200 ISPs to be shut down

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has decided to shut down 200 internet service providers (ISPs) for being involved in illegal activities or for not providing services for many years. The regulator has already served notices to the companies to cease all their activities from 1 July. According to the BTRCs documents, the total number of ISP licensees is 603, and a third of the licensees would be shut down for ever, sources said to The Independent. In a letter, Md Nahidul Islam, the BTRCs senior assistant secretary, told international gateways that the commission has repeatedly requested all ISPs to send information about their business activities to its relevant department. But more than 200 ISPs have failed to submit their information. After the procedure, the commission instructed the IIGs to reduce 50 per cent of their bandwidth load by 18 June 2016, subject to providing the information that was earlier sought. But only 15 ISPs have sent their information to the commission. So BTRC has decided to shut down 200 ISPs, which include 41 nationwide and 27 central zone licensees. BTRC official said the ISPs that are going to be shut down may be involved in illegal bandwidth trade or were not providing any services to their customers, as some of the letters that were posted were coming back to the commission. The government has decided to take stringent action against such ISPs, which are not cooperating with its agencies. The president of the ISPs Association, Abdul Kakim, told The Independent that we are not happy with the BTRCs decision regarding the 200 ISPs. We have been demanding some 2,500 to 3,000 illegal ISPs (which do not have legal licences from the commission) should be shut down as soon as possible, but this has not been done. The ISPs Association has only 79 members as the criterion is that the company must have a nationwide licence to be eligible for membership. The internet uses 230 to 240 gigabytes (GB) per second (Gbps) per month and, of that, five mobile operators consume 70 to 80 Gbps. The rest is consumed by the ISPs. In official documents, ISPs have 4 million broadband customers and mobile operators 63 million internet users.