Cyclone Amphan: Telecom networks operating at 65-70 pc capacity in affected districts, says COAI

Telecom networks continued to operate at 65-70 per cent capacity on the third day after super cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc in coastal districts of West Bengal, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said on Friday.

Continuous power outages, frequent fibre cuts and electricity wires on roads have made restoration of telecom networks a challenging task, COAI said.

However, telecom companies expect to make up to 90 per cent services operational by Sunday evening.

"There is continuous power outage and frequent fibre cuts, therefore telecom networks were working at 65-70 per cent level today. Power restoration work is on. We hope the networks reach 85-90 per cent level by Sunday evening," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told PTI.

Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal were badly hit by the cyclone.

The cyclone-hit areas have around 8,500 mobile towers on which around 36,000 base stations of different operators run.

"One company on Friday recorded 100 fibre cuts in an hour. Even the fibre links to mobile towers that are repaired are also getting damaged.

"There are electric wires on roads at several places which is making movement of personnel difficult. Once power is restored most of the network will become operational," Mathews said.

He said Bharti Airtel has brought in around 100 people for restoration work.

Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea have also got around 60-70 people each who are continuously on ground to fix the network.