From December 31, 2023, to January 30, 2024, Iran experienced two significant internet access disruptions due to issues with internet gateways. These incidents mirrored similar outages that occurred twice in November 2023. Additionally, on January 16, 2024, both fixed and mobile internet services were cut off in Sistan and Baluchestan, with a similar pattern of disruptions also reported in Alborz province.
In response to these events, Amir Mohammadzadeh Lajevardi, the head of the Regulatory Authority, addressed the E-commerce Association’s second report highlighting concerns about internet outages, censorship, and overall internet quality. Lajevardi denied any disruptions had taken place, attributing any connectivity issues to ongoing development of the internet infrastructure.
For over a year, Sistan and Baluchestan province experienced recurring Friday morning outages following the “Bloody Friday” killings of September 30, 2022. However, these disruptions ceased last month, coinciding with Pakistan’s attack on the border areas of Iran in Sistan and Baluchestan on January 16, 2024.
However, according to data obtained from local sources of Filterwatch, access to fixed and mobile internet in this area was severely disrupted close to outage from morning till around 2 PM, local time on that day.
The January 16 internet outage in Sistan and Baluchestan presented a new challenge; it was practically untraceable by standard internet access tracking systems, necessitating verification through local sources. This suggests that authorities may be experimenting with new disruption methods. Additionally, the region has witnessed interruptions via the SIAM system over the past year, further indicating tests of different disruption methods.
Outage in Georgia; the fourth major disruption due to a severed international communication route in two months
In the past month, Iran’s internet faced severe disruptions on January 21 and 24, 2024.
On January 21, this disruption was observed in 8 datacenters in Tehran on the Arvan Cloud radar and also on Cloudflare radars. The Infrastructure Communications Company, affiliated with the Ministry of Communications, confirmed this disruption and attributed it to “an outage of the international optical fiber entering Iran from Georgia.”
Three days later, on January 24, 2024, Iran’s internet was disrupted from around noon until midnight, which was also observed on the Arvan Cloud radar, and the Infrastructure Communications Company confirmed it, citing the severed international optical fiber route as the reason.
The disruption due to the severed optical fiber route between Georgia and Armenia – according to the Infrastructure Communications Company – had also occurred in November 2023.
Internet outage concurrent with Pakistan’s attack on Iranian territory
On January 18, 2024, following Pakistan’s attack on parts of Sistan and Baluchestan province, according to information from filterwatch’s local sources, access to mobile internet from the operators Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran and Irancell in the villages of Saravan, Sarbaz, and Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan was cut off from morning till around 2 PM local time.
Arvan Cloud data showed severe disruption at Data Center 2 in Tehran on that day.
Continuation of the disruption pattern in Alborz province
The disruption pattern in Alborz province, which began in October 2023, continued from December 31, 2023, to January 30, 2024. According to IODA data, these disruptions continued for several hours after midnight. Authorities have not reacted to these disruptions.
Other notable disruptions
- On the morning of January 16, 2024, the Human Rights Organization Hengaw reported that internet and telephone communications in Kurdistan province had been cut off since that morning. Filtraban could not confirm or deny this disruption.
- According to IODA data, internet access in Kermanshah province faced severe disruptions from midnight to dawn for about six hours.
- According to IODA data, internet access in Alborz province faced severe disruptions from January 9 to 13, 2024.
- According to IODA data, internet access in Markazi province faced severe disruptions on January 24, 2024.
- According to IODA data, internet access in North Khorasan province faced severe disruptions from January 29 to 31, 2024.
On January 29, 2024, reports of severe internet speed slowdowns in Kurdistan province, Tehran, were published on social networks, and this severe disruption was confirmed in conversations with local sources by Filtraban.
