Telecom services shutdown looms over Bangladesh due to Middle East fuel crisis

Bangladesh’s mobile telecommunications network is on the verge of a large-scale shutdown as a crippling fuel shortage, triggered by the escalating conflict in the Middle East, starves the nation’s infrastructure of essential energy, as per reports.

Bangladesh has a population of 170 million, and it imports 95% of its oil and gas, mostly from the Middle East. As shipping from the Strait of Hormuz is facing severe disruption leading, and the shortages have hit hard in Bangladesh, leading to queues at filling stations lasting for as long as 12 hours, while the government also recently hiked up the diesel prices by 15% and that triggered demands from bus and water transport owners for fare adjustments.

As per reports, The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said that continued telecom operations can no longer be sustained without the full need to power operations, including  data centres.

AMTOB reportedly wrote this letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), stating  that the situation has escalated beyond their operational control, adding that if these conditions persist it will be a grave risk of large-scale telecom network shutdowns across parts of the country.

According to reports, the impact has already begun and is taking a toll as Mobile network operators (MNOs) are facing distress due to prolonged unavailability of commercial power and the lack of assured fuel supply for backup systems and also that the data centres consume approximately 500-600 litres of diesel per hour, amounting to nearly 4,000 litres per day per facility, which the local fuel stations are unable to provide.

These problems can reportedly be the reason for ‘network blackout’ as this could cause shutdowns of data centres that would create severe disruptions for other services, adding to this, the internet can become slow or even go down entirely, as data centres are the command hubs where traffic is routed and controlled.