Egypt withdraws access to the Internet Following Street Protest

Egypt, following days of anti- government protests, withdrew the Internet after Egyptian authorities shut connections to the outside world.

According to reports, Internet traffic in and out of the country slumped shortly after midnight Cairo time. Mobile-phone services run by local units of Vodafone Group Plc and France Telecom SA were also halted.
According to sources, rather abruptly, in a coordinated fashion, the entire major Internet providers that have traffic in and out of Egypt basically withdrew from the Internet.

National authorities shut the connections after demonstrators took to the streets, inspired by an uprising that ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14. Egypt has one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Facebook Inc., owner of the world’s biggest social- networking site, is seeing only minimal traffic from Egypt. Google Inc., the largest search engine, stated people in Egypt are unable to access Google and its YouTube video service, or at best are having real difficulty doing so.

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