Bhubaneswar: Telecom infrastructure in the state suffered huge losses around Rs 700 crore due to the severe cyclone Fani, which hit Odisha on May 3. The cyclone damaged telecom facilities in Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, paralysing mobile as well as landline services.
According to sources, on an average the loss could reach anything between Rs 500 crore and Rs 700 crore. However, the detailed reports on damages caused to the telecom infrastructure are yet to be assessed and revealed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
According to a report, around 600BTSes (Base Transceiver Stations) have been damaged due to Fani. Of this, 34 per cent of BTSes were damaged in Bhubaneswar and around 37 per cent BTSes were destroyed in Cuttack.
The report says that the Capital city has about 1,800 BTS towers, while there are 1,200 towers in Cuttack district.
In meantime, the state government has asked the telecom operators to deploy Cell-on-Wheels (CoW) service in the cyclone-hit regions to improve the telecom services. The government is also supporting the service providers by providing them with generators to run the services in the affected areas.
To accelerate mobile network restoration in Puri and Bhubaneswar, Airtel has already deployed 13 Cell-on-Wheels (CoW).
Meanwhile, Vodafone-Idea has managed to revive network connectivity in large parts of the cyclone-affected areas of Odisha. Over 1,500 sites have been revived since the day the cyclone hit the coast, enabling not just Vodafone Idea customers, but almost 4.5 lakh mobile users of other operators also to use the VIL network on ICR.
In addition, the DoT has allowed intra-circle roaming (ICR) which allows users to avail services of other network operators in Odisha.
Dipchand Bihari, OP