"Internet shutdowns cost Ethiopia $146 million in 2022", 12 January 2023

The war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has not only caused the loss of lives and mass displacement but also loss of millions of dollars in revenue by businesses due to another full year of total internet shutdown.

Despite electricity being restored in Tigray’s capital Mekelle after a truce was signed between the government and Tigray fighters to end two years of war last November, internet blackout is still ongoing since the war broke out in November 2020.

A new report by Top10VPN, a London-based VPN review firm that assesses internet privacy, security, and freedom shows that Ethiopian businesses have lost $145.8 million due to internet blackout in Tigray last year. It affected over 1 million internet users.

In 2020, the country lost $100 million to internet outage which rose to $164.5 million in 2021, affecting 21.3 million users.

There was no internet connection for a total of 8760 hours (365 days) in 2022, crippling digital payment systems, businesses, and efforts by human rights groups to use social media to document reported crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in Tigray, home to over 5 million people before the war.

The report notes that the internet shutdown in Tigray region is “one of the longest we’ve ever documented. As in other areas of the world, the main reason authorities implement shutdowns is to stifle the free flow of information during elections, conflict, or protests. Internet shutdowns are, above all else, a method of control but that doesn’t mean they’re always successful.”

Digital rights researcher at Top10VPN Samuel Woodhams tells Quartz that repeated shutdowns are not good for Ethiopia and they “could have long term consequences, with a drop in foreign investor confidence and a decline in local tech-driven growth.”

There is still no clarity on when internet services will be restored in Tigray. “There is no timeline,” Ethiopia’s innovation and technology minister Belete Molla told delegates on Nov. 30 during the UN annual Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa.

Woodhams says by emphasizing the economic impact, the Ethiopian government will recognize how internet shutdowns harm the country.

“Governments, ISPs, and tech companies need to be more transparent about their role in disrupting access to the internet. We also need to work collectively to ensure people experiencing shutdowns have the support, tools and skills necessary to circumvent them,” he says.