Cash servers of various organizations including Google, Facebook, and YouTube are being shut down in Bangladesh

Network Server

Thousands of cash servers of various organizations including Google, Facebook, and YouTube have been shut down since Friday.  Except for the operator designated by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), no other internet service provider can use the cash server.  The regulator said the decision was in the interest of national security.  However, technologists believe that the government's decision will disrupt Internet services at a marginal level.

If a customer from Bangladesh searches for any content on Google, Facebook, or YouTube, it is connected to the main server of these organizations.  After that, the content is automatically stored in the cash server of Bangladesh.  If someone searches for the same content, they get the information from the local server very quickly.  However, BTRC Vice-Chairman Subrata Roy Maitra said that in the interest of national security, the BTRC has been directed to remove these global cash servers from all ISPs except IIGs, Knicks, Nationwide ISPs, and mobile operators by tomorrow.

Global organizations have installed these servers in all types of Internet service providers in the country for the convenience of customers for the last decade.

BTRC Chairman Shyam Sundar Sikder said that global organizations like Google, Facebook, YouTube have set up cash servers through local agents without any approval.  However, according to ISPAB President Imdadul Haque, grassroots internet users will suffer from such a decision of the government.  The level playing field in internet services will also be lost.

Earlier, the regulator called for the removal of the cash server by July 31.  At the request of the ISP, the company gave a deadline of 31 December.  There are more than one and a half thousand cash servers of various global technology companies in Bangladesh.

 / AW