It is reported that during the political unrest in 2021, all social media platforms and online messaging applications on the "MTN eSwatini" network, including Facebook and WhatsApp, were blocked for a duration of about a week and later restored again. "MTN eSwatini" issued a notice to all its subscribers informing them that an order has been issued by the Regulator to restrict these services. MTN eSwatini is a subsidiary of the MTN Group, Africa's leading cellular telecommunications company.

The indicator "6.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 2 in Eswatini. This corresponds to "The government shut down domestic access to the Internet several times this year."

It is reported that Eswatini imposes an identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Eswatini's law and jurisprudence.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability for copyright infringement is absent in Eswatini's law and jurisprudence.

Section 10 (2) (a) and (b) of the Electronic Communications (Subscriber Registration) Regulations on Data protection provides that personal information shall be stored by the licensee for a period of five years after a customer has cancelled a contract with the licensee or where the licensee has ended the services provided to the customer. In these Regulation, in accordance with Section 2 (Interpretation), licensee means any electronic communications service licensed by the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) for the provision of electronic communications services in Eswatini.

Eswatini has a comprehensive regime of data protection in place: the Data Protection Act No. 5 of 2022. Before this law, data protection was covered in sectoral laws including the Swaziland Communications Commission (Subscriber) Regulations, Swaziland Commission (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2016 and of the Financial Institutions Act.

Section 32(1) of the Data Protection Act provides that if a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member State has transposed the requirements under the SADC Model Law on Data Protection, the transfer of data is permitted. SADC is an economic block covering 16 countries in Southern Africa. Moreover, the transfer is permitted where the recipient establishes that the data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or pursuant to the lawful functions of the data controller, or where the recipient establishes the necessity of having the data transferred and there is no reason to assume that the data subject's legitimate interests might be prejudiced by the transfer or the processing in the Member State (Sections 32(1)(a) and (b)).
In addition, Section 33 of the Act permits the transfer of personal information to other recipients if an adequate level of protection is ensured in the country and the data is transferred solely to permit processing authorised by the controller. Apart from the above requirements, transfers of personal data are permitted where the data subject has unambiguously given their consent to the proposed transfer, the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between the data subject and the controller, or the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken in response to the request of the data subject, among others (Sections 33(4)(a-f)).

Eswatini has not joined any free trade agreement committing to open transfers of cross-border data flows.

Eswatini has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

It is reported that Eswatini does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

Eswatini Post and Telecommunication Corporation is a state-owned enterprise. It is fully owned by the government.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Eswatini to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation is wholly owned by the government. Neither local nor foreign firms hold any equity shares invested in the corporation. Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act provide for the establishment of the corporation and its governing structures which is in line with the provisions of the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act, 1989, (PEA). The PEA is a framework Act that regulates how public Enterprises are established and governed in Eswatini and further list all Public Enterprises and their categorisation. Under the PEA, the Post and Telecommunications Corporation is listed under Category A, denoting that it is wholly owned by the government of Eswatini. (See Section 2 and the Schedule).