The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has activated intra-circle roaming (ICR) in four districts of Arunachal Pradesh, namely Keyi Panyor, Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, and West Siang, to ensure uninterrupted mobile connectivity. This move comes in response to the widespread disruption caused by heavy rainfall, cloudbursts, and landslides in the region. The facility, which will be available for three days till June 28, allows mobile subscribers to automatically connect to any available network if their home network becomes unavailable.
This will enable residents, disaster response personnel, healthcare workers, and government agencies engaged in rescue and relief operations to maintain communication. The ICR facility will also be available to subscribers visiting the affected districts from other parts of the country. The DoT has taken this step after heavy rainfall and flash floods severely damaged telecom infrastructure in the affected districts, disrupting communication services and hampering rescue and relief operations.
Flash floods inundated the NEEPCO telecom exchange in Posa in Yazali, rendering it non-functional, while multiple landslides between Potin and Yazali damaged around 12 kilometres of optical fibre cable (OFC). 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 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.
