The Houthi militia allocates 70 MB of internet capacity in Yemen for its military actions
English - Monday 26 April 2021 الساعة 04:35 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
A source in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Sana'a, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, revealed that the Houthi militia has a monopoly of 70 MB of Internet capacity in Yemen for its personal and military actions.
The source, who asked not to be named, told "NewsYemen" that the Houthi militia uses high-speed internet for personal work to lead the militia and military operations related to missiles and drones.
The source added that the Houthi militia increased the size of the international Internet capacity in Yemen from 47 megabytes per second to 117 megabytes per second, by the end of 2018.
The international capacity of the Internet in Yemen was 20 megabytes per second until 2012, and Waisz added communications to the government of Hadi Obaid bin Dagher 10 megabytes per second, and the Minister of Communications, who was succeeded by Julaidan Mahmoud Julaidan, added 17 megabytes, bringing the total international capacity of the Internet to 47 MB, and the Houthis added 70 MB.
In addition to the slow service, the consumption prices of the Internet in Yemen are very expensive, which makes it very difficult for many of the country's residents to obtain them, and experts in the Internet sector confirm that 47 MB is not sufficient for the number of the increasing demand on the Internet in Yemen for institutions and individuals.
It is estimated that the number of internet users in Yemen has reached 7 million 659,884 users, equivalent to 27% of the population at the end of the year 2020.
In early 2021, Yemen Net, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, made a move that surprised the rest of the Yemeni telecom companies, as it raised the prices of Internet services significantly and imposed new data limits.
The prices of internet services that cover all Yemeni governorates, provided by the "Yemen Net" company, have risen to 130%, compared to the period before the Houthi coup against the state in late 2014.
The KeepItOn report for 2019 states that Yemen has had the largest share in terms of the number of internet blocking operations in the Middle East region, and in addition to this, reports were received from several reliable sources that the real number of internet blocking operations in Yemen far exceeds the number that has been documented.
The World Bank had confirmed in a report, that Internet services in Yemen are poor in quality and high in the offered prices, and do not meet a large amount of Internet services required in the local market, indicating that there is no longer any commitment to the legal, political, and regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector.
