During the month of April, Iranians experienced large-scale and prolonged internet disruptions that were considerably more intense than in previous months. The bulk of internet disruptions impacted Tehran, Ardabil, and Fars provinces. Users in Ardebil and Fars provinces often faced prolonged outages lasting several days as the graphs below demonstrate. Tehran users also experienced multiple outages which became more frequent and severe toward the end of the month. Several outages throughout Iran that began in early April are ongoing, leaving Iranians cut-off from the global internet for the entirety of the month. In one case, the Internet Service Provider Afra Rasa experienced an outage which impacted their network of users since April 9th. Similar prolonged outages on other networks began between April 7th and April 10th.
Notably, we are using standard international network measurement tools to identify and analyze these outages. We still do not have the tools or systems set up to accurately identify and fully examine the nature and scale of disruptions to Iran’s domestic internet connection. When international and domestic internet disruptions co-occur, all online connections are effectively severed and Iranians experience a full blackout. As the Iranian government continues to advance the National Information Network (NIN), it is imperative that we invest in developing tools and methods that identify and measure not only international connectivity but domestic connectivity as well. These tools will in turn help activists and journalists to develop a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the threats Iranians face today.
Regional Outages
As mentioned above, according to IODA data, Tehran, Ardabil, and Fars provinces experienced the bulk of internet disruptions this month.
Users in Ardabil province experienced an ongoing outage that started on April 22.
Users in Fars province experienced a prolonged outage from April 11 through the end of the month.
Users in Tehran experienced outages on April 9, 21, 24, and 29th. The outage on April 29th continued through the end of the month and increased in severity.
Provider Outages
AS202391, Afra Rasa is a network operator. The disruptions on their network affected users in Fars province for the majority of April.
AS1756, Shiraz Hamyar Co. went completely offline from April 16 until 17. The disruptions on their network affected users in Fars province.
AS6736, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences is an educational entity. IRFS went almost offline from April 9 at 21:15 UTC and this affected users in Tehran.
AS41881, Fanava Group is a local ISP in Tehran. Disruptions on AS58256 affected users in Tehran.
