98% of Telecom Connectivity Restored

Connectivity of 98% of telecom towers in the flood-hit areas of Kerala has been restored as part of the disaster mitigation activities taken up by the Department of Telecom, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), telecom service providers and telecom infrastructure providers in collaboration with the State government.

In a meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan reviewed the status of telecom connectivity in the State after the floods.

It is expected that the remaining 2% connectivity will be restored as soon as water recedes in the Kuttanad area and access to the sites is clear.

Out of the 190 optical fibre cable cuts, 168 have been restored and the remaining 22 will be restored as soon as the sites are accessible. Out of the 85,900 Base Transceiver Stations installed in Kerala, 23552 BTS were affected due to the floods. Out of this, 22217 BTS were restored by Friday.

Diesel generator

More than 400 tower sites in the flood-hit areas are functioning only on diesel generator sets due to power outage.

In the aftermath of the floods, more than 20% of the State’s telecom network was affected, with Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts being the worst affected.

The initial estimation of the total loss to the telecom service providers and infrastructure providers due to the floods has been pegged at Rs. 350 crore. – The Hindu