After blocking faster 4G and 3G services, the government has completely shut down mobile internet across Bangladesh hours before the country goes to polls.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has sent a written directive to all operators around 11pm on Saturday (Dec 29) telling them to implement it immediately, confirmed a top official of a mobile phone operator.
The outage will continue until Sunday (Dec 30) midnight, he told Bangla Tribune on condition of anonymity.
The move comes after the regulator, earlier in the day, ordered operators to shut down 3G and 4G services following instruction by the Election Commission.
Voting for 299 parliamentary seats will open at 8am and ends at 4pm on Sunday (Dec 30).
Mobile 3G and 4G data services were also shut down for 10 hours on Thursday (Dec 27) night and Friday (Dec 28) morning.
It resumed around 8:30 am on Friday only to be shut again on Saturday afternoon.