SMS system down in Iran just hours before election
Breaking Tweets
June 12, 2009 Per Ghalam News and multiple Twitterers in Tehran, the SMS (Short Message Service) system in Iran has been taken down, just hours before polls open for Friday’s presidential election.
The Ghalam News report, translated from Persian, says that the popular network “was cut off throughout the country.” The action occurred just before midnight local time, less than nine hours before the start of elections. “All walks of life from all over the country” are discovering that “messages on different cell phone networks will not send.”
The disruption in communication occurred after reformist candidates have been increasingly using Twitter and text messaging to rally support, per the Wall Street Journal. Approximatey 110 millions SMS messages have been sent per day leading up to the election, according to The Tehran Times.
One Twitter account recently reminded people not to wear reformist color green when it heads to the polls, as the government has threatened not to allow such people to vote. It asked to spread the word via SMS but at least for now that is not possible.
The Twitter account of candidate MirHossein Mousavi, viewed as the greatest challenge to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election bid, immediately tweeted out the issue.
Other Twitterers in Tehran confirmed the disruption in SMS service.
Tags: Iran , Election , Twitter , Middle East
