MAHMUDUL HASAN

Bangladesh’s mobile operators have warned of an imminent nationwide telecom disruption as a deepening electricity and fuel crisis pushes networks to the brink, raising serious concerns over the vulnerability of data centres and the wider digital economy.

In an urgent letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, they said the situation has “reached a point where continued telecom operations can no longer be sustained without immediate government intervention.”

The warning, issued by the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), comes as prolonged outages -- often lasting 5-8 hours daily during storms -- force operators to run critical infrastructure on diesel generators.

According to the letter, seen by The Daily Star, base transceiver stations (BTS) alone are now consuming over 52,000 litres of diesel and nearly 20,000 litres of octane daily across operators.

Providing a breakdown, it stated that the country’s largest telecom operator Grameenphone consumes 28,079 litres of diesel and 9,254 litres of octane, Robi Axiata uses 13,140 litres of diesel and 5,610 litres of octane, and Banglalink requires 11,206 litres of diesel and 4,995 litres of octane daily to keep towers operational.

The most acute vulnerability, however, lies in data centres and switching facilities – the core of the country’s digital infrastructure.

“Core telecom infrastructure including data centres, switching facilities, and transmission hubs are frequently operating without grid power, posing serious risk to network stability,” the AMTOB said.

Each data centre consumes an estimated 500-600 litres of diesel per hour, translating to around 4,000 litres per day per facility, according to the letter.

Combined daily consumption for data centres and switching hubs has already surged to 27,196 litres, with Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink accounting for 11,184, 9,732 and 8,200 litres respectively.

Industry insiders say this level of dependence on backup power is unsustainable.

Unlike BTS towers, data centres host critical systems such as call routing and internet traffic management. Any disruption at this level can trigger cascading failures across networks.

“If fuel can’t be managed and data centres go offline, it would cause widespread call drops, internet outages, and service blackouts,” said an official of an operator on condition of anonymity.

Tanveer Mohammad, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, echoed the concern.

Noting that operators are experiencing challenges in electricity and fuel availability, he said, “The evolving situation calls for timely and targeted measures to sustain uninterrupted telecom services nationwide.”

He said in order to “proactively avoid disruptions to essential services for millions”, they need further support from the government for priority electricity access to critical infrastructure, streamlined fuel supply, and facilitation of fuel transportation for emergency operations.

The consequences could extend far beyond communication breakdowns. The AMTOB cautioned that a shutdown would “critically disrupt emergency services, disaster response, law enforcement coordination, financial transactions, digital governance, and economic activity.”

Bangladesh’s fast-growing digital economy -- heavily reliant on mobile connectivity -- would be particularly exposed. Mobile financial services, e-commerce platforms, ride-sharing apps, and cloud-based enterprise systems depend on uninterrupted network availability. A prolonged outage could halt transactions, delay salary disbursements, and paralyse logistics chains.

The crisis is being compounded by fuel supply constraints. Local stations cannot provide volumes at this scale, the letter noted, and law enforcement barriers during inter-district transport have further disrupted supply lines.

“Multiple strategically vital telecom facilities are currently running on dangerously low fuel reserves,” it warned.

The operators’ association called for immediate government intervention, including uninterrupted electricity supply to key telecom facilities, priority power status for mobile towers, and direct fuel allocation from depots.

They also urged authorities to ensure smooth fuel transportation.

“Issue immediate written directives to LEAs (law enforcement agency) to ensure uninterrupted fuel transportation for emergency telecom operations,” they said in the letter.

“The telecom network is the backbone of national communications, public safety, governance, and emergency response. Any prolonged disruption will have severe and potentially irreversible consequences for the country,” they added.

They proposed that authorities hold an urgent high-level coordination meeting involving the power and energy divisions, fuel authorities, regulators, and operators.

There are 46,567 telecom towers in Bangladesh, operated by tower infrastructure companies and mobile operators, providing network coverage to over 18.58 crore customers. Operators have around 27 data centres across the country.