Indus Towers restores all its affected mobile towers in Kerala

Telecom infrastructure firm Indus Towers on Thursday said it has restored all its affected mobile towers in flood-hit Kerala.

"Indus Towers has managed to restore 2,500 telecom towers in Kerala," Manjush Mathews, CEO Kerala Circle, Indus Towers, said in a statement.

More than 2,500 telecom towers of Indus in flood-hit areas operated on diesel generator support due to power outage.

The company said it arranged for more than 3 lakh litres of additional diesel with the help of government agencies.

A total of 12 of the 14 districts were affected by the floods of which Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts were the worst-affected.

"The key role played by Indus Towers and its team in restoring connectivity in Kerala in a record time during the floods is noteworthy.

"Mobile connectivity is central to all rescue operations and in maintaining flow of information in critical periods of time and the need to stay connected during a natural calamity like this cannot be overstated," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.

Indus has presence in 15 telecom circles of India and has over 1,23,639 towers. It is the largest telecom tower company in the world, outside China.

Tilak Raj Dua, Director General, Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) said Kerala currently has only 16,300 telecom towers and requires additional 16,000 towers to address the growing data demands and to be better equipped for addressing natural disasters in future.

"At the time of calamity and any other exigency, telecommunication services is the only medium to connect with authorities and loved ones. Hence, after such a horrifying calamity, it is uttermost important to develop a robust telecom infrastructure," Dua said.

Indus Towers in the state has 6,650 towers, over 18,500 tenancies and employs 1,742 people (directly and indirectly).