Rahul Singh
Campbell Bay, Sept. 04: Communication services were severely disrupted across Great Nicobar on Friday after the Airtel mobile network stopped functioning from around 3:15 pm, leaving residents without reliable phone connectivity for several hours. The network was finally restored at around 9:40 pm, bringing some relief to residents.
According to local residents, a large section of the population in Great Nicobar depends on Airtel SIMs for 4G connectivity, as alternative services are limited and do not provide comparable coverage. With the Airtel network down, calls could not be connected and communication was virtually paralysed across the region.
Residents said they were initially informed that the disruption was linked to a power-related problem, but services remained unavailable for hours despite efforts to resolve the issue. The prolonged outage highlighted the heavy dependence of the island’s communication network on a single service provider.
The restoration of connectivity late in the evening provided relief, but residents said the incident should serve as a serious warning to Airtel to strengthen its infrastructure and ensure that such prolonged outages do not recur, particularly in a remote and strategically important region like Great Nicobar.
