After more than 10 months of near to complete online darkness, internet service resumed Friday in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to a notice from the Xinjiang Government News Office,.

The notice was first posted at Tianshan Net, then quickly distributed to other online news services across the country.  Several blogs have posted the notice as well.

The brief notice gives a quick explanation for resuming service in the country's westernmost region:

根据自治区维稳形势、社会经济发展的需要以及各族群众的需求，经自治区党委、人民政府研究决定，自2010年5月14日起，全面恢复互联网业务。

Based on the autonomous region’s stability situation, socioeconomic development and the needs of all populations, the autonomous region’s party committee and People’s Government have decided to resume full internet service as of May 14, 2010.

Far West China, a blog maintained by an American living in Xinjiang, confirms the reconnection.

The regional government cut the internet connection July 6 after ethnic conflict in the provincial capital of Urumqi resulted in the death of nearly 200 Han Chinese a day earlier. 

A piecemeal reconnection of Xinjiang’s internet began in January.  The disconnection adversely affected business in the autonomous region, which is already one of the world’s most remote locations.