DoT takes stock of cyclone's impact on telecom, connectivity

New Delhi: Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash on Thursday evening held a meeting with telecom operators and infrastructure providers to take stock of the status of telecom connectivity and ensure services in the cyclone Amphan-hit states of West Bengal and Odisha.

The meeting was called to list out all the sites where the towers are down and cuts have occurred in optical fibre cables and to understand of those how many can be repaired in the next 24 hours, said a statement by TAIPA.

The meeting was attended by all telcos, infrastructure providers, representatives from West Bengal Telecom Circle, Estern Telecom Region, CGMT Odisha, Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) and COAI.

As per the statement, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked both Airtel and Vodafone Idea to get 1,000 sites working in the next 24 hours.

T.R. Dua, Director-General, TAIPA said: "70 per cent of the sites are working on DGs and after every 8 hours DG set has to take rest, so restoration of power is very critical for getting sites back to functional especially in Kolkata."

"Also, at a few situations, we have come across issue of manpower not being allowed because of the road blockages, we have requested state authorities to resolve this issue at the earliest," Dua said.

The DoT has asked CGM WBTC to provide a priority list of the sites which require urgent power to be restored.

All the TSPs and IPs have been asked to give an updated list to the Secretary at 8 a.m. on Friday, said that statement.