Singabloodypore

(Mizzima/IFEX) - After about two weeks of slow Internet line recovery, users in Rangoon said on 1 November 2007 that access to the World Wide Web has been cut off once again.

Internet users in Rangoon said the Internet lines, which have been accessible for 24 hours a day since mid-October, once again went off at about 8 a.m. (local time).

Officials at Myanmar Teleport, one of only two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Burma, said the lines face interruption due to technical problems and it remains uncertain when normal service could be re-established.

"The Overseas Gateway is down. And we don't know when the problem will be solved. It has been off since this morning," an official at Myanmar Teleport, the ISP which mostly provides services for civilian use and commercial activities, told Mizzima.

However, some believe that the Internet might have been cut off on purpose and as a precautionary step to prevent the flow of information, as occurred during the recent August and September protests.