In his congested office that can hardly accommodate three people at a time, Syed Mehar Ali is busy attending to customer complaints. Ali works as a customer facilitator at InDrive’s Mauripur franchise. With two android cellphones that have three SIM cards, he frequently switches from one cellphone to the other to respond to queries and register new InDrive drivers.

His workload has enhanced since hundreds of registration requests have been left pending after the abrupt data network suspension which occurred following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) supremo Imran Khan.

“You can see this chaos,” Ali says. “I have been unable to complete the pending registrations because there was no mobile broadband internet for four continuous days in the country.”

The detention of Khan on May 9, 2023 led to the entire country descending into chaos and brought activities in many cities to a standstill. Following the data internet suspension, like many sectors, all online platforms underwent an abrupt discontinuation to their service delivery.

Many workers, such as delivery riders, rely on online apps to earn their daily income. The recent four-day internet blackout left many workers bereft of their ability to earn

As per Netblocks, an organisation which tracks internet blockades and their potential impact on various sectors, following the mobile data disruption, Pakistan suffered a loss worth $53 million, translating to Rs 9 billion. With the disruption in services of online service providers such as Bykea, InDrive and FoodPanda, including others, employees working with these digital platforms felt the ripple effects.

Ali is witness to the impact of the mobile data disruption. He says that after the data blackout, he was perched in Mauripur’s franchise with no way of finishing his work.

“The registration process had gone down,” Mehar Ali tells Eos. “I usually register four to seven requests per day, but during the four-day long data blackout, I was able to do nothing. Most of our [InDrive] drivers use mobile data, thus leading all of them, except those somehow getting a Wi-Fi connection, to stay at home and wait until their mobile data was restored.”

BYKEA RIDERS IN PERIL

Bykea is one of the largest automotive digital companies in Pakistan. Just two years after its foundation in 2016, the company had a million people taking advantage of the services with more or less 4,000 active riders at any given time. Almost 12,000 riders are available online at any given time. With Bykea having a massive presence of online employees, the repercussions of internet blockage on the employees were felt far and wide across Pakistan.

Mohammad Hassan has been employed as a Bykea rider since 2016. Hassan entirely depends on Bykea rides for his livelihood. Having tackled various issues in the past, from sudden ride cancellations to shutting down of user accounts for having insufficient or low balance, he says May 9th was an entirely different experience.

“I had to stay home for four days without having a single ride since data had been blocked. I look after a family of four, including my two children. I had to take a loan amidst the data blackout,” says Hassan. “I take online rides only and this [Bykea rides] is my only way to make a livelihood. I had to return a loan of Rs 7,000-10,000.”

Muhammad Muawiya, Hassan’s fellow rider, had to undergo a similar experience amidst the continuous internet shutdown, having to sustain his expenses with some savings. Muawiya is also a full-time Bykea rider and can make 10-12 rides a day.

“I had already accepted some rides when the news of Imran Khan’s arrest spread. I didn’t know that it would lead to a complete data shutdown across the country,” Muawiya recalls. “I could not make any further rides and had to spend the next four days at home without earning a single penny.

“Had the internet suspension continued for few more days, it would have increased our woes and made it difficult to survive without having any means to earn. I feared how I could put any food on the table for my family.”

FOODPANDA RIDERS AT THE RECEIVING END

On the day of the data black out, Abdul Wahab found himself in a queue of riders waiting to receive their orders in front of FoodPanda Mart in Karachi’s Saddar area. Wahab usually takes 15-20 orders depending on his physical strength and work schedule. He says his efforts to take deliveries during the internet disruption doubled.

“Like all employees working with online apps, FoodPanda workers’ reliance is completely on mobile data. After the disruption, we were told to find restaurants with Wi-Fi connections. I did find this idea feasible, but it was not devoid of trouble,” Wahab says.

For Wahab, dropping delivery at a given destination became a headache. He could not drop the delivery at the exact point since he did not have internet access.

“Once we reached the destination, we had to struggle, finding a Wi-Fi spot whether available at the client’s home or away from it. If it was available at a distance from the delivery point, we had to first go there to complete the delivery process and then drop it. This had a great impact on the number of deliveries we could do,” Wahab shares.

ACCESS TO INTERNET, A DIGITAL RIGHTS SAGA

Freedom House, a US-based organisation which monitors democratic norms across the globe, has constantly been placing Pakistan among the top 10 countries where internet freedom is curtailed regularly. Freedom House placed Pakistan in the ‘Not Free’ category in terms of digital freedom in 2023. The recent internet blockage is another addition to this list.

One of the many affectees, Ali, is deeply concerned about the slow internet speed in his area. Running InDrive in such a scenario has been his prime concern now after the four-day long wave of internet disruption across the country.

“We have already been in trouble as the mobile data remains in shambles because of unscheduled and uninterrupted electricity breakdowns,” he states. “After 7:30pm, load shedding starts and the mobile data begins to fluctuate. This happens because the backup electricity supply of the cellular internet provider dies after the backup ends.”

The recent internet blackout posed real threats to the livelihoods of many, especially the delivery riders who rely on online apps like Bykea, InDrive and FoodPanda to earn a daily wage. Despite the short hiatus on online activities due to the political turmoil in the country, many riders suffered immensely, resorting to taking loans or using up their limited savings to make ends meet. The authorities must remain mindful of the repercussions their decisions have on the masses, especially daily-wage earners.

The writer is a freelance journalist covering climate change across Pakistan.

He tweets at @Ayaz_Jurno

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 28th, 2023