Telcos told to have disaster plan in place

NEW DELHI: The department of telecom (DoT) has recommended that all telcos be armed with a disaster management plan to ensure their networks don’t fail consumers during a crisis situation.

In its draft recommendations for telecom operators on disaster management, DoT has asked operators to maintain centralised databases containing information about communication resources in a particular area, geographical information, history of disasters in the area, staff duties and list of supporting agencies and industries. This information would come in handy in case of a disaster not just for the operator but also for support agencies, the department said.

The telecom department has also sought greater co-operation between operators in case of a disaster, natural or otherwise. “As the availability of telecom connectivity may become difficult during such periods and considering the multi-vendor scenario in India, suitable mandatory agreements should be in place between all the service providers for providing access to such databases during emergency situations,” DoT has said.

The department has also recommended that operators set up control rooms at national, state/circle and district levels to assess the situation. Helpline and public phone booths should be set up which could be made operational at short notice at hospitals, control rooms, rehabilitation centres, railway/ bus stations and airports, it added.

While telcos should depute a team of officials from various fields — mobile, transmission and switching — and other experts to assess the extent of damage and give feedback on how to restore telecom links, they must also train staff in disaster response, DoT has recommended.

Pilot projects should be taken up to assess the preparedness of existing communication network to respond quickly to any disaster and at least one pilot project must be taken up by each telco in each state/ circle every year, according to the DoT draft recommendations.

The DoT has asked for a timeline to be set for operators to conform to these parameters after launching their services in a particular circle. It has also sought submission of a disaster management plan, describing compliance with such measures, from each telecom operator every year.