Staff Reporter :
The government on Monday blocked three more online voice and messaging services WhatsAapp, Mypeople and Line.
It has also extended the bar on Viber and Tango till January 21 midnight, a Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) official said.
Zahir Ahmed, Managing Director of BDLink, an International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) and an Internet Gateway, said that he received a letter from the Telecom regulator BTRC on Monday to block the new three applications.
The country’s largest mobile phone operator Grameenphone on Monday said, “The Grameenphone and other mobile operators received written directive from the BTRC to restrict access to the messaging services WhatsAapp, Line and My People with immediate effect.”
At the same time, the BTRC instructed Grameenphone and other operators to extend the underway restriction on messaging services Viber and Tango until 11.59pm on January 21.
“Due to limitations in technology, GP can enforce only partial restriction on IP-based messaging services. However, customers may experience disruptions on the aforementioned services during the next few days. Grameenphone believes in open communication and sincerely regrets any
inconvenience caused to our valued customers in this regard,” said a Grameenphone official
Md Sarwar Alam, Secretary and spokesman of BTRC, on Sunday said that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies had asked the regulator to take this step.
The government has specific information that subversive activities, including bomb and arson attacks were being carried out with directives issued by the BNP high-command using Viber and Tango, claimed a police official concerned.
So, intelligence agencies recommended that the government should block the popular services temporarily based on proof, the official added.
“We have information that those who had been issuing directives in cell phones to carry out subversive activities had stopped using their phones and were using Viber and Tango instead,” the policeman said, adding, “We have proofs of such instructions for carrying out subversive activities in the last two to three days.”
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that Viber and Tango had been blocked based on an intelligence report. “Now criminals and militants are using these [Viber and Tango] that cannot be monitored widely by our intelligence agencies,” he said, declining to elaborate on the intelligence report.
A leader of the BNP told the BBC that they used to communicate through Viber but is now facing problems as the service has been blocked.
The intelligence agencies can locate any caller when a regular call is made from a mobile phone but they cannot get the location when the caller is using Viber or Tango, claimed an official of the telecom regulator.
The government on Monday blocked three more online voice and messaging services WhatsAapp, Mypeople and Line.
It has also extended the bar on Viber and Tango till January 21 midnight, a Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) official said.
Zahir Ahmed, Managing Director of BDLink, an International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) and an Internet Gateway, said that he received a letter from the Telecom regulator BTRC on Monday to block the new three applications.
The country’s largest mobile phone operator Grameenphone on Monday said, “The Grameenphone and other mobile operators received written directive from the BTRC to restrict access to the messaging services WhatsAapp, Line and My People with immediate effect.”
At the same time, the BTRC instructed Grameenphone and other operators to extend the underway restriction on messaging services Viber and Tango until 11.59pm on January 21.
“Due to limitations in technology, GP can enforce only partial restriction on IP-based messaging services. However, customers may experience disruptions on the aforementioned services during the next few days. Grameenphone believes in open communication and sincerely regrets any
inconvenience caused to our valued customers in this regard,” said a Grameenphone official
Md Sarwar Alam, Secretary and spokesman of BTRC, on Sunday said that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies had asked the regulator to take this step.
The government has specific information that subversive activities, including bomb and arson attacks were being carried out with directives issued by the BNP high-command using Viber and Tango, claimed a police official concerned.
So, intelligence agencies recommended that the government should block the popular services temporarily based on proof, the official added.
“We have information that those who had been issuing directives in cell phones to carry out subversive activities had stopped using their phones and were using Viber and Tango instead,” the policeman said, adding, “We have proofs of such instructions for carrying out subversive activities in the last two to three days.”
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that Viber and Tango had been blocked based on an intelligence report. “Now criminals and militants are using these [Viber and Tango] that cannot be monitored widely by our intelligence agencies,” he said, declining to elaborate on the intelligence report.
A leader of the BNP told the BBC that they used to communicate through Viber but is now facing problems as the service has been blocked.
The intelligence agencies can locate any caller when a regular call is made from a mobile phone but they cannot get the location when the caller is using Viber or Tango, claimed an official of the telecom regulator.
