Areas with any form of telecommunications access in Karenni State are shrinking, locals say, as battles between the junta’s armed forces and the resistance intensify.
The military-imposed communication blackouts have not been imposed uniformly across the state’s seven townships, or even continuously. They typically coincide with bouts of fighting, and are suspected of being caused by a jamming of the telecoms signals by the Myanmar army.
As early as November, residents of Demoso reported weak or non-existent phone and internet signals, and by late December, the same phenomenon was reported in Hpruso and Loikaw as well. A lack of service became more common by mid-January and was widely reported in the first week of February in Hpasawng and Bawlakhe, in addition to Demoso, Loikaw and Hpruso. Some villages in Mese and Shadaw have never been on Myanmar’s internet networks, and others can only communicate through select military-run service providers.
Because of the lack of access to communications, those able to confirm the cut-offs to Myanmar Now have frequently been locals forced to leave their hometowns for safer areas but who remain in contact with their families when the services in question allow.
They say that the most recent and extensive blackout started on February 1, the same day as a visit by the junta’s second-in-command Soe Win to Karenni State.
“I was told all the telephone communications had been cut off. I couldn’t even contact my family. There’s no internet, either,” said a woman from Bawlakhe currently in Mandalay. “We no longer can get any information from them and we no longer know what is going on there.”
In areas where internet and phone access was down, only military-owned telecoms providers MPT and Mytel have still been operating, but in some villages, such as Mawchi in Hpasawng Township, even the junta-run services are no longer available.
A mine worker from Mawchi who had migrated to Taunggyi, Shan State late last year said on Tuesday that all services had been cut in his home township.
“It’s been almost a week since I have been able to call people in Mawchi. Even the Mytel phones stopped working a while ago. Telenor stopped working two months ago and MPT, last week. Nothing is working there anymore,” he said.
In Shadaw Township, Mytel users could still get online and MPT was offering phone service at the time of reporting, a local woman said. She added that the services were only available when electricity was provided, which had deteriorated to less than six hours a day: between 6am and 8am and between 4pm and 7:30pm.
“The internet blackout started a little while ago. MPT used to work properly but I don’t know what happened. We can’t use it anymore,” she said, referring to internet services. “The majority of the people just use Mytel as it’s basically the only one that is still working.”
Power cuts have been enforced in several Karenni State townships, such as Demoso, which has reportedly not had electricity for around three months.
The township is among those that have also seen widespread displacement due to military offensives, occupation and subsequent clashes. Across Karenni State, around 180,000 people have fled their homes since last May, when the current period of fighting between the military and resistance forces started, according to the Karenni Civilian Social Network.
For those who remain in Demoso, the ability to communicate with those outside the area has been deteriorating for months.
“We have to come out to a field to use the internet. We used to have to go up the hill to get a good connection but even that doesn’t work anymore. It’s not working anywhere at all,” said a woman from Demoso town who has since fled.
All communication services have been cut off in Demoso’s Nan Mei Khon town since the military bombed the area on January 16, locals said.
In the state capital of Loikaw, electricity is also limited and only Mytel and MPT’s services have been available since the junta clashed with local defence forces in Maing Lone ward in early January.
“The majority of the communication towers here remain intact, so I think the military council cut off the internet access on purpose in order to stop the flow of information,” a spokesperson for the Loikaw-based Karenni Democratic Front said.
In the village of Moso in Hpruso Township, the site of a Christmas Eve massacre of dozens of civilians by the military, the village tract has lost phone and internet services.
“The connections have been cut off everywhere. We can access the internet only from one hill. I have to go up the hill to use the internet,” a local man said.
There is also a large ethnic Karenni population in the neighbouring southern Shan State township of Pekhon, where telecoms access varies even within a limited area. An officer from the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force said that in eastern Pekhon, only MPT was working, but in central Pekhon, it was Mytel, and occasionally Ooredoo.
On days of major military operations, he added, internet access “becomes completely cut off.”
Aung San Myint, secretary of the Karenni National Progressive Party, said that although the internet blackouts did not have a major impact on the activities of resistance groups, they have proven detrimental to civilians.
“We can’t even contact each other if we have medical emergencies. We can’t call for help or get help in time. It’s not safe to travel from place to place, either,” he said.
“Because we no longer have good communication systems, we can’t call ahead to make sure that our travels are safe. The people can no longer get up-to-date news regarding the battles.”
He compared the communication blackouts in Karenni State to those imposed in other areas of the country, such as Rakhine State. In 2019, during intense clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, much of northern Rakhine State was denied internet access for more than a year.
It has been described by rights groups as the longest internet blackout in the world.
In the months that followed the February 1 coup, the junta also blocked internet and phone services to 22 townships in Chin and Kachin states and Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing regions, where resistance to the military has been strong.
