The country is under complete internet blackout after the transfer of bandwidth was suspended to internet service providers (ISPs) and carriers were ordered to shut down mobile data service.

The government had this done yesterday through the international terrestrial cable (ITC) companies, which import bandwidth from India across the border, The Daily Star has learnt with people involved with the proceedings.

ITCs provide over half (3,500gbps) of the total bandwidth import around 5,800gbps.

From 9:00pm, internet supply from the two submarine cables was mostly down, leaving the country with virtually no internet.

"We aren't getting any bandwidth from the ITCs and only a little from the submarine cables," said Emdadul Haque, president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).

It's not enough to ensure internet for the users, he added.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said internet communication is disrupted throughout the country due to fire in a Mohakhali building that houses data centres supplying a large volume of internet traffic.

According to the ISPAB, no fire was set in any building with the data centres. There was a fire in an adjacent building and some overhead cables of data centres located in the vicinity were damaged.

The damage would affect at best 20 percent of internet supply, according to industry insiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Meanwhile, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for telecom and ICT, said mobile internet services will be resumed as soon as the environment and the law-and-order situation stabilise.

"A vested quarter is trying to derail the law-and-order situation by spreading rumours on social media — that is why we have disconnected the mobile internet services without any prior declaration," he said at the inauguration of 20 e-learning courses of an ICT Division project in the capital yesterday.

Contacted, Grameenphone, the country's leading mobile operator, said in a statement: "Considering the ongoing situation in the country, the government has temporarily stopped mobile internet services. The honourable state minister has already given his statement in the media. We are dependent on the authorities to restart the mobile internet services. We are in constant communication with the authorities in this regard."

Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi, said the carrier has received threatening messages from its subscribers to resume mobile internet services or else its headquarters would be attacked.