Internet blackout hits Senegal

  1. Posted on Monday 9 August 2010 - 10:14
    Kemo
    Image of Kemo
    Kemo Cham, AfricaNews reporter in Dakar, Senegal
    Senegalese were cut off from the rest of the world for over 24 hours over the weekend when telecommunications workers went on a strike.
    Internet blackout disrupt Senegal
    Both inbound and outbound communications were greatly disrupted Thursday with internet connections going dead, impeding the flow of information from and into the country.

    Workers at Orange/Sonatel, the national telecommunications provider, are angered by government's plan that will introduce a new operator, Global Voice, which is poised to closely control inbound and outbound communications.

    Union members condemn the accompanying rising cost of incoming international calls. They say the decision by the government tantamount to the signing of a ‘long-term death’ warrant for the company, a very important element of the Senegalese economy.

    The arrangement surrounding the coming of Global Voice to Senegal is the subject of a constant heated debate in the Senegalese media.

    “Senegal cut the rest of the world”, headlined what is arguably Senegal’s largest web based news provider, Seneweb. It reported Friday that Senegalese in the Diaspora where cut off from their families back home for the whole of Thursday.

    Despite the failure of prolongation of the strike into the weekend, consumers of telecommunications services in Senegal remain wary of the next move by the union members.

    As if to sum up the general feeling, a Dakar based foreign journalist described the situation on their facebook page as “A time bomb waiting to explode!”

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