At least 5 Rakhine townships face internet cut

Narinjara News, 12 February 2022

The internet services in five townships of Rakhine State in western Myanmar have been disrupted since the early morning hours, locals claimed.

The affected townships namely  Sittwe, Thandwe, Kyaukphyu,  Maungdaw and Mrauk-U are not getting the services since Saturday morning.

The military council has not yet officially commented over the matter whether it was cut as a precautionary measure.

Unconfirmed reports flooded in social media narrate that the internet connection would be out of order till 11 pm on 12 February.

“The internet connection was cut off last night at Kyaukphyu Township. As it’s an  IT era, what would the people do without the internet driven technologies? We can not even do financial transactions at this moment. I guess the term irregularity has not yet gone away from Myanmar,” said Ko Japan Gyi (from Kularakkhita Association, Kyaukphyu).

During the days (from 2018 to 2020) of gunfighting in Rakhine State, the internet service was regularly disrupted in a number of townships for more than a year. The internet facility was fully restored in those localities on 2 February 2021 only.

Narinjara News cannot confirm about the internet cut, but only assumes that the authority may go for such actions with an aim to prevent social media outrages against the ruling Military Council on the occasion of  75th anniversary of Union Day.