BTTB: Sabotage snapped internet link, overseas phones

Dhaka, Aug 23 – International telephony, internet and private international data circuits went down when the submarine cable link was "sabotaged" at 1am Thursday, a senior BTTB official confirmed.

It cut off Bangladesh from the rest of the world and intensified panic and confusion at home and abroad amid widespread violence across much of the country for days.

Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) has been trying to restore the country's only terrestrial overseas communication lifeline.

"This underground transmission link has been chopped at two different locations of Chunoti under Lohagara upazila 79 kilometres from Chittagong towards Cox's Bazar," BTTB's divisional engineer Aminur Rahman said.

The trans-national SEA-ME-WE4 submarine cable has landed at Cox's Bazar and the landing station connects BTTB's international exchange in Dhaka via Chittagong through an optical fibre line that has been laid by the highway.

Rahman is personally supervising the damage control task.

BTTB's general manager of security and surveillance Lt Col Zia Safdar refuses to see it just as an accident.

"The Roads and Highways Department's crew sometimes inadvertently cut the optical fibre transmission cable during maintenance and that is what we call an accident," he said.

"But in this case some unknown miscreants have dug the roadside soil at two close points and deliberately cut the cable."

Zia said there was no maintenance at the scene at the time. "The culprits have dug up a few more holes nearby to camouflage their misdeed."

But he could not say if this incident was part of the ongoing unrest.

"We have lodged a complaint with the police and the matter is being investigated with the help of local government representatives," the security chief said.

Such disruptions of the internet, international telephony and private international data circuits coincided with the government's unannounced shutdown of mobile phone networks Thursday evening just before the indefinite curfew began.

Cable TV operators also shut down their services in many areas fearing the wrath of the authorities for showing "violent contents" of the recent occurrences.

People got further panicked once the internet and overseas phone calls went down Thursday morning.

LOl dekhte to HObey KOn Desh eita Bangladesh boila kotha ei DEsh er MOST of the PPL r Bastard Including me also...

so this means no calls to bak home? for how long?

if it was indeed sabotage, then it further strengthens the viewpoint that bengalis, or more specificallly bangladeshis are inherently stupid: destroying intergral portions of the country's infrastructure is nothing short of treason; the students (!), if indeed they are responsible, should be prosecuted for such

nvm. calls do go though. checked

I just dont wanna make any comment..or else i will start cursing like hell..

hehe lolz Razku vi . good news

Wtf, This is the stupidest thing i ever Heard. How come ppls can do such a thing. Wutz gonna happen nXt ?! Brustin out Electricity offices ?! Cuttin electricity lines ?! Gosh.