Bangladesh’s internet blackout immobilizes its booming tech industry

Bangladesh’s tech industry has come to a halt as the nationwide internet blackouts entered a third day, leaving thousands of companies with financial and reputational losses, and workers feeling helpless.

Internet services in Bangladesh were shut on July 18 following violent clashes between the police and student groups. The students have been protesting a new policy that reserves a portion of government jobs for descendants of the country’s 1971 war veterans, who are predominantly supporters of the ruling party led by Sheikh Hasina. At least 110 people have been reported dead and thousands injured.

The country’s IT sector is collectively facing staggering financial losses, according to Russell T. Ahmed, the president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services. “The most damaging part of this blackout is our reputation,” he told Rest of World .

Bangladesh has a thriving technology sector that generates around $1.4 billion per year in export income from clients in about 80 countries. The industry is estimated to touch the $5-billion mark by 2025. The South Asian country is home to over 4,500 tech companies that employ more than 750,000 professionals. It also has a fledgling tech startup ecosystem with at least two companies valued at over $1 billion each.

Bangladesh has a growing pool of freelance tech workers, who are among those affected by the internet shutdown. “I have never felt so helpless in my life,” Zulfigar Ali Bhuiyah, a freelance programmer who works with clients across the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, told Rest of World . “The internet is a basic human right now and we are deprived of that.”

Bangladesh’s minister of state for information and broadcasting, Mohammad A. Arafat, blamed the internet blackout on “arsonists” who he said had vandalized several important establishments and cut broadband cables across the country. “Our teams of engineers are trying to get the internet back as soon as possible,” he told Rest of World .

But broadband and mobile operators contacted by Rest of World said the blackout was a government decision and restoring the internet was not in their hands.

“The government has temporarily suspended mobile internet services in the light of the ongoing situation in the country,” a spokesperson for Robi, the second-largest mobile operator in the country, told Rest of World in a statement.

Arafat refuted the claim that the government enforced an internet blackout. “What’s our benefit here? If we wanted to put a halt on misinformation and communication between the protesting students, we could have just shut down social media,” he said.

Since 2018, Bangladesh has witnessed several internet shutdowns, with neither the government nor telecommunications operators offering any explanation, according to a press release issued by digital rights watchdog Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition on July 19.

“The authorities’ response to the current student movement must follow a balanced, non-violent, and rights-respecting approach that enables the free flow of information,” the press release said. “Cutting down access to vital information and communication platforms has wider short- and long-term implications.”

On Saturday morning, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, minister of state for information technology and telecommunications, told the media that the “government is trying to get the internet back but only after ensuring people’s physical and digital security.” ▰

Faisal Mahmud is a journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.