GSMA urges Myanmar military to lift nationwide Internet blackout

The GSMA expressed last week a deep concern regarding Myanmar’s Internet blackout following Norwegian telecoms provider Telenor’s local operation confirmation of restrictions since March 15.

The industry body issued an appeal to the Myanmar military — who forcefully took power following an election that saw Aung Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy gain over 80 percent of the popular vote — to place the country back online.

The coup has led to nationwide waves of escalating citizen-oriented protests, demanding the junta to free various political and civil-society leaders. The military forced Internet outages across the country are an attempt to prevent thousands of protesters in the streets from communicating and coordinating, as extra boots on the ground have been deployed to intensify the crackdown.

Following its military coup on February 1, the junta has repeatedly forced Internet services providers to shut down or restrict access to the Internet since seizing power and imprisoning local leaders; Telenor had attempted to provide transparency by publishing any ordered outages on its website, but later stopped due to the military’s threatening the provider’s local employees.

The nationwide Internet blackout was also confirmed by UK-based monitoring group NetBlocks, noting that it is the 37th night in a row of military-imposed shutdowns.

“The GSMA is deeply concerned about the impact that government/authorities’ restrictions on connectivity and internet services are having on citizens and businesses in Myanmar. We call for the restoration of services in Myanmar, and any other country affected by service restrictions orders and network disruptions, as soon as possible,” the statement from the industry body said.

GSMA further stressed that restricting access to connectivity has far-reaching implications on people’s health, education, social and economic welfare.

Prolonged lack of services is even more harmful in this time of a global health pandemic, and in such volatile times in Myanmar, as individuals increasingly rely on digital connectivity for their livelihoods and to access essential services and information, the statement read.

“Governments should only resort to service restriction orders in exceptional and pre-defined circumstances, and only if absolutely necessary and proportionate to achieve a specified and legitimate aim consistent with internationally recognized human rights and relevant laws. There should also be due process, oversight, and transparency on the use of restriction orders,” the association stressed.

The GSMA highlighted that it believes governments should seek to avoid or mitigate the potentially harmful effects of service restriction orders by minimizing the number of demands, the geographic scope, the functional scope, the number of potentially affected individuals and businesses and the duration of any restriction.

The industry body also added that it stands ready to work constructively with relevant governments, authorities, and stakeholders to assist in the restoration of services or mitigation of adverse impacts in all affected countries.

Service restrictions orders can affect the ability of society to function, individuals to transfer funds to friends and family and businesses to transact, pay suppliers or salaries. This can have a knock-on effect on credit and investment plans, ultimately damaging a country’s reputation for managing the economy and foreign investment and discouraging donor countries from providing funds or other resources.

Service disruptions which result in mobile operator financial losses, or supply chain disruptions, can also have longer-term implications on investment in those markets and subsequently further negative impacts on digital inclusion.

“The GSMA discourages the use of service restriction orders. Governments should only resort to that measure in exceptional and pre-defined circumstances, and only if absolutely necessary and proportionate to achieve a specified and legitimate aim that is consistent with internationally recognized human rights and relevant laws,” the statement stressed.

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