About half of the country's territory has been cut off from phone and internet services : Myanmar

In Myanmar, where communication lines have been cut off one by one after the coup, Internet phone lines have been cut off in half of the area.

On June 21, Voice of Freedom, an activist group for freedom of expression, announced that 169 townships out of 330 townships in Myanmar have had their phones and internet cut off.

"They're using information blackouts as a weapon."

Locals and political activists have criticized the military council for cutting communication lines and restricting the flow of information to areas where there is fighting and where their administration cannot operate. Among them, Sagaing Division, where the armed resistance is strong, is the worst affected by phone and internet disconnection.

A resident of Ima Pin Township, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said that it was difficult to find a place to connect to the Internet.

"I can't use the internet. On our side, we only have Starlink (Starlink satellite internet). Before Starlink came, we only used 2G on the trees. It's a little bit of a long trip. For example, I had to go to Fowin even if I was from the south of Fowin."

He said that the Internet was cut off in 2021 when the Military Council seized power in Ima Pin Township. Now, Star Link internet, which can be said to be satellite internet, can be used part-time by paying from one thousand kyats in their area.

According to Voice's data, internet blackouts are the worst of the war council's methods of cutting off communications.

Also, cutting off both phone and internet, Wi-Fi cutting, There are some kinds of line tension reduction, and this is being done on purpose, said Zeppy, executive director of the Sound Group, which researched these conditions.

“From the military, this has been cut on purpose. There are many human rights violations committed by the military. I am afraid that these violations will be known internationally. The public is afraid to know. If the public does not receive correct information, their delusions will be able to reach more widely. They're using it as a weapon to cut off information."

33 townships in each of Sagaing's various forms of cutting off communication by the military council. 28 townships in Yangon According to the voice group, it is most common in 18 townships in Kachin and 17 townships in Rakhine State, and in all provinces including Nay Pyi Taw.

National Unity Government (NUG) Presidential Office Spokesman U Kyaw Zaw pointed out that the military council's cutting of communication lines is a violation of human rights.

"These violations are violations of human rights, Also, to prevent people from contacting each other. They also have the belief that what they do with the intention of weakening the revolution will cause them a lot of losses and a lot of losses because of this information access. It can be assumed that he is doing it out of anger because of that."

In this regard, RFA contacted General Zaw Min Tun, who was authorized to speak to the military council, to get a response from the military council, but he did not receive an answer.

When contacted, a former army officer, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said that the communication line was cut due to fighting across the country.

"The lines in Yangon are also bad. It's hard and takes a long time. This is the same in a country at war. When ISIS appeared in the Middle East, many communications were cut off. When I went to Dubai about three years ago, everything was fine in the big airport. I can't get all strangers' phones even when I go out. So it's not unusual for my country to be the only one. Many countries in the Middle East have done the same.”

Political activist Mathansa Xoonley is -

"People's basic rights to information, technologies, next education In the 21st century, where services such as health depend on it, turning off a VPN is an act of tyranny. The issues that have caused rebellions to arise in various places like this, If we examine the root of all the events that led to the revolutions, we can see that the military leaders are adding fuel to make the entire country burn," he said.

Currently, the military council is banning technology-based software that can overcome restrictions called VPN (Virtual Private Network) in major cities including Yangon, and is also investigating VPN users.

According to the Voice Group's statistics, after the coup d'état, phone and internet communications were cut off by year, with 120 townships being the most cut off in 2022.