National shutdown
Internet Services, Mobile Internet Services, SMS
Ethiopia experienced a complete internet blackout on June 11-12, 2019, lasting approximately 13.5 hours from 17:00 UTC on June 11 to 6:30 UTC on June 12. The country's sole commercial internet provider, Ethio Telecom, cut connectivity nationwide, reportedly to prevent cheating during national high school examinations. This was the second of three related shutdowns that would occur over a 3-day period (June 11-14). Following the series of complete blackouts, selective blocking of messaging platforms WhatsApp and Telegram occurred from June 15-18, and SMS services within the country were also disrupted during this same week.
- Total Duration 13 hours
Ethiopia
- Population
- 135,472,051
- UN Classification
-
- Least Developed Country
- Land Locked Developing Country
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Not Free
Local impact
Local businesses that rely on connectivity, such as tour operators, were either forced to close, or use VPN to connect to the Internet and access messaging platforms. Some resorted to using business centers at luxury hotels, which appear to still have Internet access. Popular taxi service ZayRide was also affected, leaving its drivers with no work for a week. Press reports, and a source speaking to TechCrunch on background, said Ethiopia’s internet stoppage was done to stop students from cheating on national exams, which took place this week.
Other supporting information
The country's sole internet provider, Ethio Telecom, discontinued its services in three separate blackouts between June 11-14.
- Shutdown 1: June 11, from 7:00 UTC to 12:00 UTC (5 hours)
- Shutdown 2: June 11-12, from 17:00 UTC to 6:30 UTC (13.5 hours)
- Shutdown 3: June 12-14, from 17:45 UTC to 12:15 UTC (42.5 hours)
Ethio Telecom issued an apology on June 18 without providing details of the cause of the interruption, however press reports allege that the blackout was a measure to prevent secondary students cheating during the annual national examinations.
This shutdown is corroborated by data from several organizations:
Oracle Internet Intelligence:
Oracle Internet Intelligence Country Statistics graph for Ethiopia, June 9-15, 2019
Oracle Internet Intelligence Traffic Shifts graph for AS24757 (Ethio Telecom), June 9-15, 2019
CAIDA IODA
CAIDA IODA graph for Ethiopia, June 9-15, 2019
Google Transparency Report
Google Transparency Report Web search traffic graph for Ethiopia, June 9-15, 2019