Junta Cracks Down on Myitkyina Establishments Providing Satellite Based Internet Service
Junta troops carried out multiple arrests when they raided several shops and hotels using the satellite based internet providers IP Star and Starlink In Tatkone Ward in Myitkyina Town, the Kachin State capital.
The junta has cut off nearly all phone and internet services throughout Kachin State’s four districts and 18 townships, since 21 July 2024.
As a result, people in Kachin State who wanted access to the internet to make money transfers and engage in social media, amongst other things, turned to IP Star and Starlink, which offer internet access via satellites that are not under the junta’s control.
Certain shops and hotels offered access to the internet via IP Star and Starlink for a fee of up to 25,000 MMK an hour. But, in the first week of September 2024, the junta raided several hotels, phone shops and other shops with internet access in Tatkone Ward. For security reasons none of the raided establishments can be named.
A shop owner from Myitkyina who used to offer internet access through satellite based internet providers said: “I’ve noticed that the junta mainly targets and arrests those using the internet for money transactions. The soldiers also arrested several suspects. My shop used to offer internet access to use KPay [a popular mobile payment service in Myanmar], but due to the recent arrests, that’s now prohibited.”
A woman who owns a hotel in Myikyina said: “I had planned to install Starlink at my hotel for the convenience of guests, but after the junta warned that it was illegal due to the internet shutdown, I didn’t proceed. Now, with news of the arrests, the situation has become even more concerning.”
The junta imposed the internet blackout on Kachin State in July, following rumours that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Kachin People’s Defense Force (KPDF), and allied resistance groups were planning to attack and seize Myitkyina City in September or October.
However in August, when KNG asked the junta-appointed Chief Minister of Kachin State, U Khet Htein Nan, about why internet and phone services had been cut he claimed that the shutdown was due to damaged cables in Sagaing Region.
He said: “The primary issue is faulty cables in Sagaing. Repair work has been completed to restore phone lines in some downtown areas.”
Currently, phone services from Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and Atom have been restored in some wards of Myitkyina City, but there is still no internet access in the city. MPT is owned by the junta’s Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Atom telecommunications company is 80 per cent owned by the junta-affiliated Shwe Byain Phyu Group.
According to civil society organisation (CSO), the Myanmar Internet Project, said that on 20 August 2024 phone and internet services were cut in 305 locations in Myanmar. Sagaing Region has the highest number of internet disruptions, followed by Kachin State in second place and Chin State in third.
