Myanmar military shuts down Internet

It used to be that the radio station was the first target in a coup. Now it’s the Internet.

Myanmar’s military cut off much of the nation’s connectivity after they rounded up civilian leaders and announced a state of emergency in the early hours of Monday morning.

The military leadership declared the November 8 election result, in which the main democratic party NLD won more than 80% of the seats, was fraudulent. Fresh elections are to be held.

Disruption of Myanmar’s web traffic began at 3 a.m. local time, global Internet monitor Netblocks advised.

It said national connectivity fell initially to 75%, and by 8 a.m. it was down to 50% of usual traffic levels. It recovered to around 75% by noon.

“Technical data show cuts affecting multiple network operators including state-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and international operator Telenor, with preliminary findings indicating a centrally-ordered mechanism of disruption targeting cellular and some fixed-line services, progressing over time as operators comply,” Netblocks said on its website.

Hong Kong-based HGC, which has the largest international wholesale and corporate business in Myanmar, confirmed it had been hit by an outage at around 8:30 a.m. It says services resumed gradually and were restored by around noon.

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