 "Telcos set up joint monitoring centre with DoT amid rising hostilities")
Telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have established a national-level monitoring centre to ensure uninterrupted services and disaster resilience amid increasing hostilities with Pakistan, telco officials said. The decision was taken at a meeting with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday, they added.
Operational since Thursday, the joint centre is providing a critical real-time communication link between the DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs, and telecom operators. “It was asked to be operationalised with immediate effect and manned 24x7. The operators have acted accordingly. All measures in line with disaster management guidelines have been implemented,” a telco official said.
As part of preparedness, telecom companies turned off signal lights on top of high towers during a nationwide mock drill, particularly on towers near airports or flight paths. Operators have also been instructed to ensure that telecom towers and ground infrastructure within a designated distance from the border remain operational under all circumstances.
Interestingly, officials from two private sector telcos said they had not yet received any requests from local administrations to shut down services.