Central African Republic Bans SMS Services

Those who happen to live in the Central African Republic have not exactly gone through a bed of roses over the years, ever since the country gained its independence in 1960. Of course, there are the relevant growing pains of a nation which are to be expected, and with that, the advent of technology in the landlocked region cannot be avoided. However, it seems that the government has issued a forced shut down of text messaging services throughout the Central African Republic after fears of potential violent demonstrations reared its ugly head, with SMS being used as the vehicle of choice to carry out those plans.

All four mobile network carriers have been issued an order to make sure that SMS will no longer work in the country, as that is the vehicle of choice that organizers used to carry out work strikes as part of the coordinated activities to protest against violent responses by the government. So far, thousands of people have lost their lives, while a whole lot more (numbering in the millions) have been displaced ever since a coup overthrew the government with ethnic-religious tensions rising.

Anyone who tries to send a text message would be on the receiving end of a message themselves, touting that “SMS not allowed.” We do wonder whether the use of a data plan might work out here with programs like WhatsApp and Viber offering an alternative.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: sms, text message