A Nation Comes Back Online: Inside Sudan’s 25-Day Blackout
After more than three weeks of near-total isolation, Internet traffic began returning to Sudan on Thursday, November 18, 2021. The restoration, first visible after 13:00 UTC (15:00 local time), marks the end of a 25-day period in which the country’s connectivity was reduced to a trickle. For businesses, families, and communities, the return—even partial—represents a significant shift in daily life.
The outage traces back to October 25, 2021, when authorities cut access amid political turmoil. A Sudanese court had ordered service restoration on November 9, but networks stayed dark for another nine days. The country’s most severe previous blackout lasted 36 days in 2019; a longer social media restriction ran from December 21, 2018, to February 26, 2019—68 consecutive days of blocked platforms like WhatsApp.
Cloudflare Radar data from the past month illustrates just how stark the departure from normal was for the country.
In the hours before restoration, traffic on Wednesday, November 17 (around 11:00 UTC), dropped further, pushing connectivity close to zero. When service did return, recovery was led by two ISPs: Mobitel and MTN. Sudatel, one of the largest providers, remained largely down for several hours before coming back around 18:00 UTC.
Social media traffic, particularly Facebook, spiked the moment access began improving, only to fall again hours later. Local reports suggest possible platform-level restrictions on mobile networks. Mobile traffic overall surged after 14:00 UTC—not surprising for a country where mobile connections dominate. As of October 2021, 83% of Sudan’s Internet traffic came from mobile devices.
A Recurring Pattern of Disruptions
Sudan’s experience is not isolated. According to Human Rights Watch, the country ranks among those most prone to deliberate Internet shutdowns. Political unrest has repeatedly triggered multi-day outages; earlier in 2021, authorities suspended service during exam periods to prevent cheating.
The 2021 blackout lasted 25 days. While shorter than the 36-day mobile Internet shutdown of mid-2019, it followed the same playbook: a sudden cutoff, extended silence, and a slow, piecemeal return—first by some providers, then others, with social platforms often the last to normalize fully.
