Vodacom Group said it has been ordered to switch off all internet and text message services in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid protests against proposed changes to the country's electoral code.
Mobile operators and internet service providers on Monday received orders from Congolese officials instructing them to suspend the services, the phone company said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday.
"The deadline for the implementation of this was midnight, and all companies complied," according to Johannesburg-based Vodacom, a unit of Vodafone Group Plc and the biggest provider of mobile-phone services in South Africa.
Protesters, who surrounded the DRC's parliament on Monday and continued to demonstrate yesterday, are seeking to prevent the senate from voting on the law, which includes requiring the world's largest producer of cobalt to conduct its first census in about three decades before the next national elections. Opposition parties say that may delay the vote and may extend President Joseph Kabila's 14-year rule.
Lambert Mende, a government spokesman, said two civilians and a police officer were killed on Monday when security guards opened fire to stop crowds from looting shops in the capital, Kinshasa.
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