Explained: Reliance Communications and Telegram’s ‘global’ blocking
Telegram experienced global outages due to a BGP route misconfiguration by Reliance Communications, which was attempting to comply with an Indian government blocking order. Reliance Jio clarified it was not involved in the incident despite initial confusion.
Why it matters
This highlights the fragility of global internet routing and the potential for local regulatory actions to cause unintended international service disruptions.
Late June 16, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov alleged on X, formerly Twitter, that “Indian telecom Reliance is sabotaging access to Telegram for millions of users outside India (including the UAE) via a rogue method called BGP hijacking,” and that this “sabotage seems intentional, as Reliance has ignored multiple reports”.
The article provides a technical explanation of a networking error and clarifies the roles of the involved companies.
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