Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been making all out efforts to restore telecom services in the flood-hit Tripura. Amid daunting challenges, combine efforts of the telecom service providers (TSPs), including BSNL, Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone have led to the restoration of over 94% of the telecom network in the flood-hit areas. This helped in maintaining crucial communication for rescue teams, government officials, and the general public.

Tripura has faced severe disruptions due to unprecedented heavy rainfall, which resulted in intense flooding from August 19 to August 23. The flood had caused significant damage to the telecom infrastructure, leading to widespread service interruptions.

The following measures have been taken by DoT and TSPs to support the communities in distress and enhance telecom connectivity to ensure continuous coverage.

• DoT has been regularly reviewing the situation with its field unit i.e., North East Licence Service Area (NE-LSA) and TSPs.
• The DoT LSA unit in Tripura acted promptly and collaborated closely with the State Administration, State Disaster Management unit, and Telecom Service Providers to swiftly restore the telecom network in a remarkably brief timeframe.
• The DoT has enforced Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) in Tripura State from 22.08.2024 to 27.08.2024, following the ground report from its field office.  All TSPs promptly implemented the ICR in their network, allowing the customers to avail services of any of the available TSP’s network, irrespective of their subscription.

• Based on the request from state disaster management authorities, TSPs have replaced the damaged telecom equipment immediately in the affected area. This has assisted both the distressed residents and the rescue workers and disaster management teams on the ground.

• Additionally, TSPs are taking slew of other measures so that people stay connected during these critical times. Jio has extended the validity of its prepaid plans by 4-days for all customers in these areas whose plans have had recently expired or were set to expire within the next 2 days. Airtel prepaid customers whose plan validity has expired and are unable to recharge were being given 1.5 GB free mobile data per day and unlimited calling with 4 days validity. In addition to that, bill payment dates for all post-paid customers have been extended by 30 days.

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