Postpaid mobile services in J&K to resume from Monday, internet only at tourist spots, announces state principal secy

Postpaid mobile phone connections in Jammu and Kashmir will be restored from noon Monday after 69 days of communication blackout since the Centre revoked Article 370 which accorded special status to the state.

The announcement was made by state Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal at a press conference Saturday.

Rohit Kansal, J&K Principal Secretary(Planning Commission): All post paid mobile phones stand functional from Monday 12 noon in the remaining areas of J&K pic.twitter.com/CJOEXu4vGb

Kansal also said that all restrictions on movement have been completely removed and that, for now, internet services will be opened only at tourist spots.

Asserting that the government will continue to move on the path of greater relaxation, Kansal said all schools in Jammu and Kashmir will resume.

The administration has been examining various options with regard to suspension of mobile phone services which have come in for severe criticism for causing hardships to about 7 million residents of the Valley.

At one point, it was planned to open only BSNL services followed by allowing activating only incoming calls run by private telecom operators. However, it has now been decided to allow operationalisation of all postpaid phones run by all operators, which accounts for around 40 lakh subscribers. This will leave out around 26 lakh prepaid mobile subscribers.

The services were set to be resumed Saturday, but a last minute technical hitch led to it being postponed.

Representational image. PTI

The move comes just days after the Centre issued an advisory opening the Valley for tourists. Travel association bodies had approached the administration, saying that no tourist would like to come to the Valley where no mobile phones working.

The Valley has witnessed security lockdown with a communication blockade since 5 August after the Centre announced the abrogation of the special status guaranteed to the state under Article 370 of the Constitution.

Partial fixed line telephony was resumed in Kashmir on 17 August, and by 4 September all landlines, numbering nearly 50,000, were declared operational.

In Jammu, the communication system was restored within days of the blockade and even mobile internet was started around mid-August. However, after its misuse, the internet facility on cellular phones was snapped on 18 August.

With inputs from agencies