Telcos, ISPs asked to boost fire safety measures

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has directed all telecom and internet service providers, including mobile operators, to strengthen fire safety measures across their infrastructures such as data centres and towers to ensure uninterrupted communication services amid a spate of fire incidents recently.

In an official directive issued on Monday, the telecom regulator said: "In view of recent unwanted fire incidents that caused extensive damage to important government and private installations and infrastructures, all telecom service providers are hereby directed to exercise due caution to maintain service continuity."

The commission asked operators to ensure that all fire prevention and extinguishing systems at data centres, network operation centres, and base transceiver station sites remain fully functional.

It also instructed licensees to maintain "adequate backup power and alternative network management plans" to sustain operations during emergencies.

The BTRC further ordered companies to strengthen "personnel and property security, patrolling, monitoring, and surveillance" at all installations and to train emergency response teams for immediate action during fires or other accidents.

The directive added that all employees must receive basic firefighting and fire-safety awareness training.

Service providers have been asked to report their safety management initiatives to the commission's Engineering and Operations Division by October 30, 2025, and to submit fire safety compliance certificates for all KPI-considered establishments by the same date.

The circular was sent to the chairpersons, managing directors, and chief executive officers of all mobile operators, international long-distance operators, submarine cable companies, satellite operators, nationwide telecommunication transmission networks, international internet gateways, tower companies, and internet service providers.