DoT Activates Intra-Circle Roaming in Four Arunachal Districts Amid Flood Disruptions

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The department of telecommunications (DoT) has activated intra-circle roaming (ICR) in four districts of Arunachal Pradesh for three days till June 28 to ensure uninterrupted mobile connectivity amid widespread disruption caused by heavy rainfall, cloudbursts and landslides, an official statement said on Friday.

The facility has been enabled in Keyi Panyor, Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri and West Siang districts, allowing mobile subscribers of participating telecom service providers to automatically connect to any available network if their home network becomes unavailable.

The move comes after heavy rainfall and flash floods severely damaged telecom infrastructure in the affected districts, disrupting communication services and hampering rescue and relief operations.

According to the department of telecommunications, flash floods inundated the NEEPCO telecom exchange at Posa in Yazali, rendering it non-functional, while multiple landslides between Potin and Yazali damaged around 12 kilometres of optical fibre cable (OFC).

Continuous rainfall, fresh landslides and disruption of commercial power supply have further delayed restoration work.

The damage to the OFC network at Hoj also affected connectivity in Sagalee, Lemmi, Kampu and Seppa. Restoration teams have been deployed and are working to restore services through the Sopo-Hoj route.

The DoT said activation of ICR will help maintain communication for residents, disaster response personnel, healthcare workers and government agencies engaged in rescue and relief operations.

The facility will also be available to subscribers visiting the affected districts from other parts of the country. The department said it is closely monitoring the situation through its field units and coordinating with telecom service providers to restore normal telecom services at the earliest.

ICR is a telecom arrangement that allows a mobile subscriber to connect to another operator’s network within the same telecom circle when the subscriber’s own network is unavailable.

The facility is generally activated during disasters to ensure uninterrupted communication when telecom infrastructure is damaged.

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