The city of Ras al-Ain, northwest of al-Hasakah, has been experiencing continuous internet outages for the fifth consecutive day, causing significant crises, financial damages, and social impacts for the city’s residents.
Residents are struggling with communication difficulties, and commercial activities and essential services reliant on the internet, such as banking services, have been disrupted. One of the major issues is the inability of some citizens to receive their salaries from the Turkish Post Office (PTT) and the suspension of financial transfers.
The internet has been almost completely absent in Ras al-Ain over the past four days and has only returned to some neighborhoods, while remaining absent from others. Network operators attributed the issue to bad weather conditions.
Enab Baladi obtained constantly changing internet package prices in Ras al-Ain, where a 1GB package costs $10, a 4GB package costs $14, an 8GB package costs $20, a 10GB package costs $25, and the highest package of 20GB costs $35.
Business disruptions and communication breakdowns
Many residents in Ras al-Ain rely heavily on the internet in their daily lives, particularly for receiving remittances from Turkey and Europe sent by their relatives.
Another group uses the internet to communicate with their family and relatives in other regions, especially given the presence of various controlling powers in Syria and the need to connect with those outside Syria.
Adnan al-Malik, the owner of a money transfer shop, told Enab Baladi that the internet outage in the city has affected the operation of remittance offices and residents since financial transfers rely on notifications from other regions.
He explained that the ongoing outage has left residents waiting for transfers in a financial bind, adding that this situation forced him to rely on the Turkish network, which is often weak and does not function properly to receive transfer notifications.
He mentioned that despite paying internet bills costing $20 monthly, he has not received good service from most internet providers in Ras al-Ain.
Marwa Salman, a university student from Ras al-Ain studying online due to the absence of universities in the city, said that the continuous internet outages have disrupted her studies, causing her to miss many lectures in the past three days.
The student fears the ongoing internet outages and its poor quality. She mentioned trying various internet providers but never receiving good services or a stable connection.
Hassan al-Mohammed, the owner of a computer repair shop, complained about the internet outage, telling Enab Baladi that it has caused him significant financial losses.
He explained that his work mainly relies on the internet to download special data and systems for computers, leading to a complete halt in his operations.
He added that currently, he relies on the Turkish network, which is weak and unreliable for downloading data and systems, indicating the need to restore the internet in the city as soon as possible, to avoid closing his shop in the coming days.
Residents of Ras al-Ain complain about internet outages and unstable networks – May 31, 2024 (Enab Baladi)
Lightning strike disrupts internet network
Adnan Hamid, the owner of an internet company in Ras al-Ain, told Enab Baladi that the internet network outage over the past four days was due to a malfunction in the main distributor for the city caused by a lightning strike.
He explained that repairing this issue requires the arrival of internet network spare parts from Turkey, as they are not available in the region. He added that the company is working on finding alternative solutions, such as connecting the internet through the old distributor, but its speed is low and unstable.
He mentioned that the internet has begun to work in some of the city’s neighborhoods and will fully return automatically once the main distributor arrives in Ras al-Ain.
The population of Ras al-Ain is 115,000, with an area of 23,000 square kilometers. The residents need the internet for various sectors, such as money transfer companies and mobile phone shops, among others.
The prices are determined by internet supplying companies based on agreements between the supplier and local distributor, with local distributors being the primary beneficiaries of price hikes, as they gain more profits when prices rise.
Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad border Turkey and are controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and its political umbrella, the Syrian Interim Government (SIG). They are surrounded by battlefronts with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Turkish border is their only gateway to the outside world.
Residents of Ras al-Ain complain about internet outages and unstable networks – May 31, 2024 (Enab Baladi)