Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid apparent military uprising

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Network data observed by the NetBlocks Internet Observatory indicate the onset of widespread internet disruptions in Myanmar on Sunday 31 January 2021 (UTC) amid reports of a military uprising and the detention of political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The telecommunication disruptions, beginning approximately 3:00 a.m. Monday morning local time, have significant subnational impact including the capital, and are likely to limit coverage of events as they take place.

Technical data show cuts affecting multiple network operators including state-owned Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and international operator Telenor, with preliminary findings indicating a coordinated or centralised mechanism of disruption.

Findings are corroborated by users on the ground from users and journalists who describe being unable to get online and the simultaneous loss telephone connectivity. Geographic indicators from the observatory suggest that outlying regions of the country and technical infrastructure may be less affected. The incident has been described by sources as a military coup amid an escalating standoff with the country’s civilian leadership.

Breaking incident: article will be updated as information is processed

Methodology

NetBlocks diffscans, which map the IP address space of a country in real time, show internet connectivity levels and corresponding outages. Purposeful internet outages generally have a distinct network pattern used by NetBlocks to determine and attribute the root cause of an outage, a process known as attribution which follows detection and classification stages.

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