On 25 September 2013, internet services in Sudan were abruptly shut down.  It was the third day of protests in Khartoum over the cutting of fuel subsidies, which had doubled the price of gas.  Access reported that evidence indicated this was a "highly-coordinated move by the Sudanese government that the network operators likely had knowledge of and may have been involved with."

Access called on the companies that provide networks in Sudan to report on their activities relating to the shutdown, and their relevant policies: Zain; CanarTelecom, MTN, and Sudani/Sudatel.  Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is approaching the four companies for a response.  So far MTN has responded, and despite multiple attempts we have not yet got through to the other three.  This page will be kept updated with developments.

MTN response:

"MTN’s business is to facilitate communications in the digital age. The innovation revolution taking place in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector is helping break down social, economic and community barriers, and is a catalyst for positive socio-economic development, and therefore network uptime is of utmost importance to us. Following the internet outage in Sudan, the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) indicated that the interruptions were “due to sabotage of Canartel’s servers and equipment”. Canartel is MTN Sudan’s internet service provider, and therefore MTN was unable to immediately address the cause of the shutdown. However, with the assistance of Canartel, MTN was able to resume services within 15 hours of the shutdown. We are in on-going discussions with Access, and have incorporated various recommendations from their Telco Action Plan into our Human Rights policy."