AgenciesReliance Jio Infocomm executives are due to meet senior state government officials in Punjab after protesting farmers damaged more than 1,450 Jio-owned or operated telecom towers over the past few days, disrupting connectivity across the state.
The attacks have continued despite appeals from Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and the tower industry. “Last week, Jio officials had met the director general of police (DGP) and they have been meeting the senior superintendent of police (SSP) in the affected areas and regularly filing FIRs. But despite that power supply of 1,400 plus towers were impacted," said a person aware of the developments. "There is likely to be more meetings with the senior state government officials in the coming days." Jio did not respond to ET's queries.
Telecom services have been disrupted in Punjab after farmers protesting against three new farm laws disconnected power supply and cut the fibre of more than 1,450 telecom towers, most of which belonged to or were being used by Jio. Vandalism of the telecom towers continued over the weekend despite chief minister Amarinder Singh's appeal on December 25 to protesting farmers to not inconvenience the general public and show restraint like they did in past few months of protests. Punjab has some 40 million mobile phone users, while Jio has some 14 million in the state.
In fact, a letter from the Director-Industries and Commerce of Punjab to the state DGP on December 24 requested protection of the tower sites, highlighting forced shutdowns in Bathinda and Hoshiarpur districts of the state. The request came on the back of an earlier letter dated December 22, from the Tower and Infrastructure Association of India (TAIPA) to Inspector General of Police (IGP) highlighting threat to towers, employees, technicians and requesting "urgent intervention" from the state police. ET has seen a copy of both the letters.
The attacks by protesting farmers on infrastructure supporting Jio’s network comes amid RUMOURS that the new farm laws would allegedly benefit Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and Gautam Adani’s Adani Group. Both these groups though do not procure foodgrains from farmers.
The farmers protests, now on for a few months, have sparked another controversy between India’s private telcos—Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi). Jio has complained to the telecom regulator that it was losing subscribers because of “frivolous rumours” spread by its rivals that that the Mukesh Ambani-led company will gain from the new farm laws.
The attacks have continued despite appeals from Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and the tower industry. “Last week, Jio officials had met the director general of police (DGP) and they have been meeting the senior superintendent of police (SSP) in the affected areas and regularly filing FIRs. But despite that power supply of 1,400 plus towers were impacted," said a person aware of the developments. "There is likely to be more meetings with the senior state government officials in the coming days." Jio did not respond to ET's queries.
Telecom services have been disrupted in Punjab after farmers protesting against three new farm laws disconnected power supply and cut the fibre of more than 1,450 telecom towers, most of which belonged to or were being used by Jio. Vandalism of the telecom towers continued over the weekend despite chief minister Amarinder Singh's appeal on December 25 to protesting farmers to not inconvenience the general public and show restraint like they did in past few months of protests. Punjab has some 40 million mobile phone users, while Jio has some 14 million in the state.
In fact, a letter from the Director-Industries and Commerce of Punjab to the state DGP on December 24 requested protection of the tower sites, highlighting forced shutdowns in Bathinda and Hoshiarpur districts of the state. The request came on the back of an earlier letter dated December 22, from the Tower and Infrastructure Association of India (TAIPA) to Inspector General of Police (IGP) highlighting threat to towers, employees, technicians and requesting "urgent intervention" from the state police. ET has seen a copy of both the letters.
The attacks by protesting farmers on infrastructure supporting Jio’s network comes amid RUMOURS that the new farm laws would allegedly benefit Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and Gautam Adani’s Adani Group. Both these groups though do not procure foodgrains from farmers.
The farmers protests, now on for a few months, have sparked another controversy between India’s private telcos—Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi). Jio has complained to the telecom regulator that it was losing subscribers because of “frivolous rumours” spread by its rivals that that the Mukesh Ambani-led company will gain from the new farm laws.
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