Since the outbreak of the armed conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023, the ongoing fighting has wreaked havoc on Sudan's communications network infrastructure. At the beginning of February this year, communications and Internet services in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and most of the central and eastern regions were disrupted on a large scale, and have not yet been fully restored, which has had a great impact on the production and livelihood of the local people.
Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and the Darfur region in the west are among the most intense areas of conflict, with infrastructure such as communication towers, fibre optics, and data centers severely damaged. In the early hours of 3 February, Sudan's two largest telecommunications operators, Sudan Telecom and MTN, experienced widespread disruptions in communications and Internet services. Another telecom operator, Zain Group, also experienced an outage in its services on the 7th. As a result, almost all parts of the country have been "cut off", with no access to communications and internet services. As of now, communication and internet services in central and western Sudan have not been restored.
The prolonged "internet outage" has seriously affected the economic and social life of Sudan. ** The public services of institutions, the financial services of banks have almost all been suspended, and online banking and money transfer operations have not been carried out, hindering normal business activities. Many people also have difficulty communicating with family and friends.
Babakr Hassan, a local resident: Almost all the money of businessmen goes through the bank, and the bank cannot do without the Internet for a moment. The disruption of communications and the Internet has meant that the lives of a large number of Sudanese have been affected.
Mohannad Farouk, local resident: The disruption of communications and the internet has had a severe impact on my life and cut me off from my family. Until now, I didn't know what was going on with my family.
The "internet outage" has also added further difficulties to the functioning of Sudanese health facilities and severely hampered humanitarian relief operations.
Salah Almubarak, Head of the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Committee: Disruptions in communications and the internet have made it even more difficult to reach displaced people, as they have prevented us from keeping abreast of the movements of shelters and ambulance centres, as well as the movement of humanitarian workers.
* CCTV news client.
Edited by Hu Weike.
Second instance Liu Juan.
Third trial Min Jie.