Government blocks mobile internet access in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Thursday

Mobile internet access in Ethiopia has been blocked by the government - but officials are refusing to say why. It was reported last year that the country banned access to social media sites after university entrance exams were leaked online.

There has been speculation that similar motives lie behind the latest “blackout”, although some reject this. A state of emergency has been in effect in Ethiopia since October, following anti-government protests.

This is the second time in recent months that Africa’s second most populous country has turned off its mobile data service, which most businesses and consumers rely on for internet access.

Mobile internet access has been disabled on other occasions recently, including a period of a few weeks last year. “Mobile data has been deactivated,” deputy communications minister Zadig Abraha said.

On Thursday, the BBC was unable to access websites belonging to the Ethiopian government and the sole communications provider, Ethio Telecom. There were reports that fixed-line broadband connections had also been affected.

Preliminary data from Google suggested that there had indeed been a big drop in Ethiopian internet traffic to Google services since Wednesday afternoon.

Home to both the headquarters of the African Union and the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa has gained the nickname “Africa’s political capital”.

But officials at both institutions said their internet was cut on Tuesday afternoon but returned Wednesday, while average Ethiopians were still unable to connect via their phones or modems, which use mobile SIM cards. Ethiopia has been censoring its internet for more than a decade, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have been blocked since last year’s unrest. -BBC

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