Sudan’s Exam-Time Internet Blackouts Follow a Familiar Pattern
Sudan is the latest country to throttle or cut Internet access in an attempt to curb exam cheating. The practice, already observed in Syria earlier this month, has resulted in four distinct outages over the past week in Sudan, with further disruptions expected as the exam period continues.
Cloudflare Radar data for Sudan shows a clear, recurring pattern of traffic dips. The shutdowns started on Saturday and continued through Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Each outage begins at 0600 UTC (0800 local time) and ends promptly three hours later at 0900 UTC (1100 local time), matching the schedule released by Sudan’s Ministry of Education.
The country-specific Radar page reveals that these are not partial network issues but deliberate, timed restrictions. Looking at the traffic mix during these windows, the drop is most pronounced in mobile Internet usage, which aligns with official statements about limiting mobile access. Desktop-based traffic continues at a relatively normal level, suggesting the restrictions are selectively applied to mobile networks—which dominate Sudanese Internet usage, typically accounting for over 75% of total traffic. For context, that is far higher than in markets like the United States.
With five more exam days scheduled, further shutdowns are anticipated on June 24, 26, 27, 29, and 30. Those monitoring the situation can track each new outage in real time on the public Cloudflare Radar page for Sudan.
