Ethiopia has been hit by a wave of anti-government protests especially in Oromia and the southern nations which may have resulted in shutting down of internet services
Internet services back in parts of Ethiopia after months
After months of proscribing opposition activities by the government through shutting of internet services in Ethiopia, internet services have been restored to some parts of the East African country.
Ethiopia has been hit by a wave of anti-government protests especially in Oromia and the southern nations.
However, officials have denied hands in the internet connectivity outage in the country.
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This comes after new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised to bring about reforms in the country, which has had two state of emergencies declared in the past year.
The majority of areas outside the capital, Addis Ababa, have had no connectivity for nearly three months now.
They include Oromia, Amhara and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Regions which have seen some of the biggest anti-government protests for nearly three years now.
BBC correspondents have also confirmed that services have resumed in Tigray in the north and Harar in the east.
Most Ethiopians access internet via their mobile phones.
It’s not clear why the services were shut in the first place but the government has long blamed opposition activists based in the diaspora of inciting violence and hate speech through popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
The government has on several occasions shut down the internet in a bid to contain widespread protests that are in part organised online.
Internet and telephone services are controlled by only one provider, state-owned Ethio Telecom.
Despite being one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, internet penetration in Ethiopian remains very low – at just 15%, according to the 2017 Freedom of the Net report conducted by US based Freedom House .