People have not been able to purchase SIMs and related services over the last two days as mobile phone operators have been unable to verify buyer information due to difficulties in accessing the national identification (NID) database server at the Election Commission (EC). 

The problem started at around 8:30pm on June 18 and continued until 9:30 pm yesterday when this report was filed.

On June 19, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) sent a letter to the EC requesting to resolve the issue.

Such an outage affected SIM activation, replacement and other biometric verification-related services, said officials of mobile phone operators.

Asked how long it could take to restore the service, Mohammad Ashraf Hussain, system manager (technical) for the NID wing at the EC, said he was unable to provide a specific time.

"If a system goes down, you can't explain it like a story. It could occur at any time. Any system can fail," he said.

"We have 171 partners (those who avail services)…the affected were those who only take biometric verification service," he added.

Some maintenance works are ongoing and many are facing problems in getting access to the server, said AKM Humayun Kabir, director general for the NID wing at the EC, earlier yesterday.

According to technology experts, experiencing such a prolonged outage is improbable and reflects unprofessionalism.

Without official statements from the system's authorities, it remains challenging to speculate on the exact cause of the incident, said Sumon Ahmed Sabir, a top technology expert in the country.

"It is highly unfortunate that a critical service has been inaccessible for an extended period," he said.

"The focus should be on identifying the root cause, examining aspects such as system backups, redundancy, and maintenance, and engaging with the vendor responsible for addressing the issue," he said.

It is very unlikely and unprofessional, he added.