According to internet monitoring specialists Renesys, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered the country's ISPs (internet service providers) to shut down all international internet connectivity in Egypt sometime during last night.

 

Critical international fibre optic routes that travel through the country, linking Europe and Asia as well as Europe and Africa, remains intact at this stage. But every Egyptian household, business and internet cafe that relied on the country's four main ISPs have been cut off completely. The ISPs, namely Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr are currently all offline.

 

The move is reminiscent of that of the Tunisian government when it recently attempted to gain access to Tunisians' Facebook accounts, with the social networking website serving as one of the largest organising networks for protesters.

 

Renesys said it observed the simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks at around 00:34am local time on Friday morning, leaving no valid paths by which the rest of the world could exchange information with Egypt's service providers, and as such, its population.

 

One of the only exceptions to the blackout seems to have been Noor Group, which still reported live routes to its customers. It's still unknown as to why the small ISP was spared, but Renesys reported that the Egyptian Stock Exchange was still alive at a Noor address, hinting at the reason behind its continued connectivity.

 

According to the BBC, Egyptian security forces are on high alert as protesters organise the largest rally yet to take place after Friday prayers. The protests are aimed at ousting the regime of Hosni Mubarak, who has been Egyptian president for 30 years.

 

There were also reports of opposition figures being arrested overnight, another protester being shot and killed by security forces (bringing the death toll to seven) and internet and even mobile phone messaging services being disrupted or cut altogether.

 

A forced internet blackout of this scale has never been seen before, and time will tell what affects it will have on Egypt, its economy and its population of 80 million people.