Bangladesh SIM ban leaves 120,000 Rohingya with disabilities cut off

Bangladesh’s government bars Rohingya refugees from owning SIM cards, leaving roughly 120,000 people with disabilities digitally stranded in overcrowded camps. This blanket restriction turns mobile phones into expensive paperweights for refugees who need connectivity most.

Digital walls around Cox’s Bazar camps

The SIM card ban forces refugees with disabilities into impossible choices. They can’t register for mobile services, can’t receive emergency alerts, can’t contact aid workers when medical crises hit. A wheelchair user in Kutupalong camp must rely on others to carry messages to health centres. A refugee with hearing loss can’t access text-based emergency communications. The policy treats digital access as a privilege, not a lifeline.

Credit sharing creates underground networks

Some refugees work around the ban by sharing phones with Bangladeshi contacts who hold legal SIM cards. Others pay inflated rates to use borrowed devices for brief calls. These workarounds cost money refugees don’t have and create dependency chains that can snap without warning. Mobile credit becomes currency in an economy of digital exclusion, where people with disabilities often get pushed to the back of unofficial queues.

Breaking through policy barriers

Calling for Help provides mobile credit that works regardless of who owns the SIM card. When a refugee with disabilities gains access to a phone, our credit ensures they can actually use it. We can’t change Bangladesh’s policy, but we can make sure connectivity doesn’t stop at the SIM card restriction. Apply for phone credit if you’re a refugee with disabilities who has found a way to access mobile services.