New Delhi: Officials of the Union Ministry of Communications, who briefed members of a Parliamentary panel Tuesday on suspension of telecom services/internet and its impact, remained non-committal about a timeline for restoration of 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). They added that a final call on it will be taken by the home ministry.
“(Ministry) Officials said that 2G services have been restored already and it is good enough to meet the requirement for now,” said an MP, who attended the meeting of the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT).
Internet services were suspended in J&K on 5 August 2019 following the revocation of Article 370 that granted special powers to the erstwhile state.
Officials of the Ministry of Communications, meanwhile, came under flak from members of the panel, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, for failing to lay down new protocols, as directed by the Supreme Court, that authorities have to follow before suspending internet and telecommunications services.
The Supreme Court on 10 January this year had given a set of directions to the Centre, which, among other things, included amending the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017, to provide for periodic review and the duration for which internet can be suspended.
The existing rules do not provide for either a periodic review of an order, suspending the internet, or time limitation for suspension.
The top court gave the directions while pronouncing its judgement on a clutch of petitions that challenged the restrictions imposed in Kashmir.
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“The IT ministry officials said the amendments are under process, but the MPs were not satisfied with the response,” said a second MP, who attended the meeting.
The MP said members questioned the officials for failing to lay down the protocols even seven months after the apex court’s directions.
“MPs told the officials that the ministry should at least respect the SC directions. Barring a few BJP MPs, a majority of the MPs told the officials to expedite the new protocols,” the second MP said.
Ministry officials told the panel members that the matter pertains to the states — where internet shutdown had taken place — and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as it’s a law and order issue and a decision on the matter will have to be taken by them, the second MP added.
The issue of suspension of the internet in J&K, meanwhile, drew some sharp exchanges between panel members after a BJP MP wanted to know why residents of the erstwhile state were complaining.
“A ruling party MP said that J&K did not have internet and mobile service for a long time between 1995-1996 and 2002-2003 when the rest of India got connected. Why are they complaining now after just a year of suspension?” said the first MP quoted above.
To this, some opposition MPs replied that they wanted to know why internet services were suspended now. “We are not interested to know what happened in the past,” the MP added.
India will roll out 5G by March 2021
India will be in a position to roll out 5G by March 2021, senior officials from the Department of Telecommunications under the ministry further informed the panel.
The ministry said this after the panel members questioned the officials about the delay in building an end-to-end indigenous 5G testbed in India.
The ministry officials made a presentation on India’s preparedness for 5G during the meeting.
“The MPs asked the (ministry) officials the reason behind the delay despite the Department of Telecommunications approving the financial grant in March 2018 for building the multi-institute collaborative project to set up end-to-end 5G test bed,” a third MP said.
The project was approved on 22 March 2018 at an estimated cost of Rs 224 crore and was to be completed within 36 months.
Ministry officials said that as compared to 4G, where the peak data transfer rate is 1 gigabit per second, in 5G, it is 20 times more at 20 gigabit per second. In terms of download capacity and speed, 5G will be 10 times faster than 4G.
Delay in providing internet connectivity to panchayats
IT ministry officials also faced the heat of members over the delay in providing broadband connectivity to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats under the Bharat Net project.
The project, which is being implemented in phases, was approved by the cabinet in 2011 and the targeted date of its completion was March 2019.
“The officials informed us that 1,10,000 gram panchayats are yet to be connected. When asked the reason for delay, they could not give a satisfactory response,” said the second MP.
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