In the Nantaw area of Homalin Township in Sagaing Region mobile phone networks have been down since late February, forcing locals to queue at stores and shops with landline phones to make calls.
A resident of Nantaw Village said: “In the mornings, there aren’t many people at the shops, so calls can be made quickly without a long wait. But in the afternoons, there’s usually a queue. I heard that the mobile GSM signal is available on the hill where the pagoda stands in Kyoetpin Village to the south.”
The junta cut off all internet access to most of Homalin Township in Mid-2023. This included mobile internet access, though it was still possible to sometimes make mobile phone calls, it was often impossible because of frequent mobile network outages in Homalin Township.
After the most recent outages some network services were restored in late 2024 to areas near to Homalin Town and the Namtaw area, which encompasses Nantaw Village and the surrounding areas. But, since the beginning of February 2025 the network has again gone down in those areas.
Currently, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, the mobile phone network currently used by most people and telecoms providers is completely down. In some areas of Homalin Township the older Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 450 Hz network is still available. But, few people have phones that can use this network and even for those who do the signal is often too weak and needs to be boosted before it can be used.
Apparently, mobile phones with ATOM (formerly Telenor Myanmar) GSM network SIM cards show that they can connect to the network, but in reality users still cannot make or take calls and even sending SMS texts is hard.
A convenience store owner from the Nantaw area said to Voice of Shan-Ni: “I rely on phone calls to order goods. With the communication networks down, it's become very difficult to run my shop smoothly.”
The network outage has also made it very hard for affected people to use mobile payment apps, mobile banking apps, and withdraw money transfers .
Users can still withdraw cash from the payment apps, but they have to pay agents a far higher service fee than normal.
Though the junta cut all internet access to Homalin Township in 2023, since then, in western areas of the township controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and people's defence forces, it is possible to get online because there is limited access to the Starlink internet network. Locals often refer to this service as the ‘Federal Net’ of the National Unity Government (NUG).
In some other areas of Homalin Township controlled by the junta-aligned Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), including the Nantaw area, the SNA has allowed some internet cafes connected to the Starlink Network to operate.
Currently the junta controls Homalin Town and the junta-aligned SNA controls most of Homalin Township, except for a few areas controlled by the KIA/PDF coalition.
