Internet glitches to be resolved by tonight: ISPAB

Internet speed disruptions across the country, resulting from the fire at Khawaja Tower in the capital's Mohakhali, was expected to be resolved by Friday night, according to the Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).

"We have received permission to enter the building gutted by fire. Companies [housed in the building] are testing their equipment. The equipment was not damaged in the fire. Transferring the connection to another server is now in progress. Hopefully, the internet service will be restored by night," ISPAB President Emdadul Haque told The Business Standard on Friday (27 October) evening.

The fire affected two data centres of International Internet Gateway (IIG) in the tower, which provides bandwidth to some of the major ISPs of the country.

"If the data centres can be started by entering the building, it will be possible to restore the internet service fairly quickly. We hope to have everything back to normal by tonight. Even if there are some issues left unresolved, users will not face any problem tomorrow," Emdadul said.

The data centres in the tower could not be turned on as no one was allowed to enter due to security reasons, ISPAB Secretary General Nazmul Karim Bhuiyan told journalists after visiting the building earlier on the day.

"If at least one data centre is activated, the internet speed will become normal. But to do this we have to enter the building," he said.

Meanwhile, the fire service has formed a five-member investigation committee to probe the fire accident of Khawaja Tower.

The committee, headed by fire service director Lt Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, has been given 15 working days to submit its report.

Three people died after a fire broke out at Khawaja Tower in Mohakhali around 5:30pm on Thursday.