Myanmar cuts wireless internet service amid coup protests
Source: AP
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s wireless broadband internet services were shut down on Friday by order of the military, local providers said, as protesters continued to defy the threat of lethal violence to oppose the junta’s takeover.
A directive from the Ministry of Transport and Communications on Thursday instructed that “all wireless broadband data services be temporarily suspended until further notice,” according to a statement posted online by local provider Ooredoo.
After weeks of overnight cutoffs of internet access, the military on Friday shut all links apart from those using fiber optic cable, whose speeds are drastically slower. Access to mobile networks and all wireless — the less costly options used by most people in the developing country — was blocked.
The Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, one of the biggest carriers in Myanmar, confirmed it could no longer offer wireless services. It was offering fiber optic service of up to 40 megabytes per second in its packages as of Friday, well below high-speed access that’s at a minimum 100 Mbps.
Police patrol on a truck along Hledan road at Kamaryouk township in Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, April 1, 2021. Protesters in Myanmar on Thursday marked two months since the military seized power by again defying the threat of lethal violence and demonstrating against its toppling of the country's democratically elected government. (AP Photo)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-race-and-ethnicity-myanmar-broadband-internet-united-nations-c5065b93f8e573ab26b8f8135f382a01
= new reply since forum marked as read
