Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services on Tuesday said that the information technology business institutions, especially export-oriented technology services, were facing enormous losses every day due to the internet blackout.
The information and communication technology sector is facing Tk 70-80 crore losses every day from the exports alone, which accumulates to more than Tk 400 crore in the five days of the blackout, said the BASIS at a view-exchange with journalists in Dhaka.
Russell T Ahmed, president of the BASIS, said, 鈥業f the present situation continues, the ICT businesses will face closure. A vast number of the IT professionals will lose their jobs.鈥�
He also said that the foreign buyers would look for alternatives to Bangladesh to place their work orders, and several hundred thousand IT freelancers would lose their jobs.
鈥業t will make the government鈥檚 target of $5 billion export in the ICT sector hard to achieve,鈥� he mentioned.
The BASIS president also urged the government to provide internet connections to the ICT businesses on a priority basis.
鈥榃e would like to work with the government to restore internet services and solve the current situation,鈥� he said.
