The government of India today ordered Telco operators to shutdown voice calls and internet services in New Delhi. Therefore, Airtel and Vodafone already followed the instructions, with their users now unable to access internet via their platforms. The internet, SMS, and voice shutdown lasted between 9am and 1pm, amid protests in the capital. Today’s shutdown is part of the 350 internet shutdowns in india since 2014.
“In view of prevailing law and order situation, we hereby direct that all communication of all types i.e voice, SMS & internet be haltyed from 0900 hours to 1300 hours …for dated 19/12/2019” reads an order from the Delhi Commissioner of Police.
Information from operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone say that there is a planned outage in the city as per government directives.
“There is a planned outage in schedule as per the government directive. This will be rectified as soon as we receive the next directive from the authority,” Vodafone confirmed in a Tweet.
However, critics posit that the internet shutdown is an attempt to gag citizens agaisnt voicing their opinions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the shutdown is an effort to thwart protests against a new citizenship law favoring non-muslim immigrants.
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