An internet blackout drill is expected to be carried out anytime between 5:30pm Monday and 2:00am Tuesday in any particular area of Dhaka city to see if the authorities could shut down internet operation in case of an emergency.
The drill will take place in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, specially the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital’s diplomatic zone.
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”.
“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 was a national crisis to isolate an affected area from the Internet. This is basically a test of our ability to do so,” he added.
The BTRC have already notified the decision to all the related ISPs asking them to acknowledge the instruction by replying immediately through mentioning the time of receipt.
The BTRC also ordered them to confirm the blackout through another email after total internet blackout of the particular area is done as instructed in the mail.
Source: Ittefaq
