No network in Himachal Pradesh? Connect to any telecom operator

The government has directed telecom operators to enable intra-circle roaming in Himachal Pradesh that has been battered by heavy rains that could disrupt connectivity, industry executives said.

While there has been no major damage to telecom infrastructure like towers or radios, multiple areas in the affected region were facing power outages, affecting the running of telecom towers, they added. "There has been some damage to the fibre laid along the national highway in that region, but network engineers are working to reroute that traffic," one executive said.

"The major issue is the failure of grid power supply to mobile towers in many areas. Getting backup electric supply to the affected sites is also a challenge due to inaccessibility of the roads/bridges which are damaged or submerged," said SP Kochhar, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body that represents telecom operators in the country.


The government has instructed all four operators - BSNL, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - to enable intra-circle roaming. This feature allows telecom users to avail other networks' services even while in their home region in case their primary network faces an outage.