Deputy Commissioner Poonch Mohammad Aijaz Asad today directed the telecom service providers to immediately restore and improve the mobile phone network connectivity in the district to avoid further inconvenience to the local subscribersThe DC was speaking at a meeting held with the representatives of various telecommunication companies operating in the district to discuss plan for improvement in the network. Present in the meeting were ADDC Abdul Hamid, ACR Bashir Ahmed Lone and District Informatic Officer Narinder Singh besides representatives of telecom companies including BSNL, JIO, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.Pertinently, District Magistrate had initiated criminal proceedings against different Telecom operators on 4th of April, 2018 for poor services in the district. The meeting convened today was meant to examine the action taken post initiation of criminal proceedings against TSPs.The DC stressed on the need on developing dependable communication network in the district for reducing reaction time of the administration in reaching out to the people in case of any eventuality. He impressed that given the frequent cease fire violations along LOC, the intermittent and unsteady network availability coupled with poor voice quality and coverage impedes relief and rescue operations thereby hampering administrative reach out to the public. He asked them to make best use of existing infrastructure apart from creating additional infrastructure in the district to provide quality telecommunication services to the public.
It was given out in the meeting that JIO has added 10 sites in last 15 days in the district including 4 in Mandi, 2 in Poonch, 2 in Surankote and 2 in Mendhar. Meanwhile 15 more sites will be commissioned by JIO shortly. It was informed that company had completed work of installing towers at 80 sites out of 130. It was further informed that two tower of Idea have been erected in last 10 days i.e. 1 in Mendhar and 1 in Surankote whereas as requests for permission for 19 sites including 10 in Poonch, 7 in Mandi and 2 in Mendhar is pending with army authorities.Representative from Airtel has put up proposal to DC for launching new site namely COW( Cart on Wheels) site. He also informed that Airtel has launched new site behind Police Line Poonch and work on one site at Bust Stand is in progress. These twin sites shall be made functional within 10 days. Vodaphone has also launched new sites at Ari and Phagla.The BSNL representative also informed the chair that major reason for poor network is due to non-completion of the maintenance process of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC). He assured that within one month there will be visible improvement in the network as maintenance work is in progress.The DDC set deadline to various companies for improving the network. He said in case of non-compliance stringent action shall be initiated against the network provider.