Mobile data restored in central Talas after three days

TALAS — Mobile data service returned to central Talas yesterday afternoon, three days after it was cut on Thursday evening as police and Gendarmerie units cleared students and couriers from Central Square.

Attelkom, the largest telecommunications company in the ISEZ, had described the outage as technical work. In a statement yesterday its Director-General, Samat Kasymov, said the company had acted on a directive from the security authorities. "Attelkom is legally bound to comply with security directives," the statement said. "Service was restored as soon as the directive was lifted." It did not say which authority had issued the order or why.

The cut affected mobile internet in the government district, around Talas State University and in the Old City. Voice calls and text messages largely continued to work, as did fixed-line connections. Delivery couriers, whose protest against the municipal licensing surcharge began the marches, said they had been unable to take orders, and traders near Bazar-i Kalan said card payments had failed. During the outage the Herald posted free PDF editions of its pages on a mirror site and sold printed copies on the street.

Rights groups criticized the shutdown. The Legal Defense Guild said it had made it harder for families to learn where detained relatives were being held. The Department of Public Information did not respond to questions.