J&K phone shutdown magnifies flood damage

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar, Sep 09, 2014: The Jammu and Kashmir floods have severely disrupted the communication network across the state, with major service providers struggling to fix their infrastructure and restore services.

 

Not just private telecom operators, even the government-owned BSNL has been impacted. In Srinagar, over 60 per cent of BSNL’s connections have been hampered; across the state, 25-30 per cent of its connections are not working.

“Today, we installed a satellite terminal in the airport area in Srinagar and connected it with Jammu to restore service in that area. We have also dispatched 10 satellite terminals from Bangalore and will try to install them on Tuesday at places that have not been hit by floods so we can restore services there,” said A N Rai, CMD of BSNL.

Rai added that the firm’s services had been working fine across Srinagar till Sunday, but were hit when water entered the equipment room in the city Monday.

In some areas, BSNL landlines are working, but only to make local calls and not outstation ones. Also, around 12 3G towers of Aircel are functioning.

Service providers were primarily hit by the floods hampering power supply to cell phone towers.

Industry experts said that in states with hilly terrain, telecom operators rely more on shared tower infrastructure. Thus, if one tower stops working in a particular area, it affects the network of several service providers there.

A statement issued by Bharti Airtel said that the floods caused major damage to infrastructure. “In areas where our services have been severely impacted, we have sought help from other operators to switch on roaming services so that our customers are in touch with their families. For customers who are not able to get their phones recharged, we are extending the advance talk time facility in addition to giving them free talk time,” said the statement.

A spokesperson for Vodafone said, “We are trying to ensure the safety and security of our employees and trying to restore the services as soon as possible.”

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, as on March 2013, Bharti Airtel was the leading wireless telecom operator in J&K, followed by Aircel, BSNL and Vodafone. Reliance Communications and Idea also operate in the state.

Telecom operators feel that it may take between a week and 10 days to get services back to normal.

Rajan S Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India, said that erratic power supply was a major reason for disruption in services. “Once the power goes off, the backup battery can sustain for only six-eight hours and then diesel is needed to run it. However, the supply of diesel has also been affected because of the floods,” said Mathews. 

 

Courtesy: IndianExpress