Internet access in Egypt appears to have returned to normal, reports the BBC. Facebook and Twitter are now available and the four major Egyptian internet service providers are back in business, after an unprecedented 5 day Internet blackout.
All Internet providers had their services cut last week, following mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak. Egyptians quickly found ways around the blocks and yesterday Google introduced a “speak-to-tweet” service which allowed people to connect to Twitter via the telephone.
A Wall Street Journal report gives censorship effort a failing grade: Protesters had no trouble pulling together larger and larger crowds, culminating with an estimated 250,000 people that gathered in central Cairo Tuesday to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule.
In the end, the shutdown proved less an impediment than a source of fresh anger among ordinary Egyptians who suddenly lost contact with friends and family overseas.
It was a shock to many that Communications in Egypt and Internet in Egypt could be so completely disrupted. Reporters Without Borders keeps tabs on press freedom. RSF counts Egypt as one of its “Internet Enemies”, although Egypt’s capacity to filter the Internet has never rivaled China or Iran.
Egypt is currently served with three international submarine cables, FLAG, SEA-ME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4. Orascom Telecom Holding is the first multinational Egyptian corporation and considered among the largest and most diversified network operators in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia. Etisalat Egypt, a subsidiary of Etisalat U.A.E., is one of three mobile operators in Egypt.
In other news, Hong Kong’s Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) says six potential bidders have expressed an interested in Hong Kong’s spectrum auction in the 850MHz, 900MHz and 2GHz bands (pdf). Applications are now closed and OFTA will launch the auction bidding at the end of this month. The six companies are China Mobile, CSL, Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT), Hutchison Telephone and SmarTone Mobile Communications.
Hong Kong completed a spectrum auction in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands in January 2009. Three companies won a total of 90 MHz of radio spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band with 30 Mhz each. The three bidders Genius Brand Limited, CSL Limited and China Mobile. China Mobile, of course, is a big supporter of TD-LTE, but the 2.6 GHz spectrum is paired.
Communications in Hong Kong is among the fastest and cheapest in the world. Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) offers 10 Mbit/s up to 1 Gbit/s via Fiber to the building and Fiber to the Home. Their 100Mbps service costs only $99HK (about $13 U.S.) per month. HKBN’s fiber network was expected to reach over 90% of all homes in Hong Kong at the end of 2010.
A new oceanic fiber, Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE), will connect Hong Kong with Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines by the end of 2012. Mainland China and additional Southeast Asian countries may be connected in subsequent phases. Incorporating the latest 40 Gbps optical technology, its designed capacity of 15 terabits per second (Tbps) is expected to further strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a telecommunications and Internet hub in the Asia Pacific region.
Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Thomas Carper (D-Dela.) introduced legislation in the last Congress that would give the executive branch authority to cut off “critical infrastructure” in times of crisis. The “Protect Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” wasn’t passed in 2010. But, according to a recent report in Wired, Sen. Collins plans to reintroduce the bill for an Internet Kill Switch in the new Congress.
