*NEW DELHI: *Due to the internet shutdown and communications blockade,telecom companies have lost 1.4 million subscribers in Indian OccupiedKashmir (IOK) , according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI).
The data accessed by* Anadolu Agency* shows that through last November, thetelecom sector recorded negative growth of 12.59% in the region, with 1.46million people surrendering their phone connections.
The communication blockade in the region began last August 5 when Indiarevoked Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy and split it into two unionterritories.
In the first month of shutdown, the region started showing negative growthof 1.14%, with 132,334 subscribers giving up their mobile connections.
Ironically, while there were no mobile internet and broadband services,residents claim that they are constantly getting bills from telecomcompanies for services they have not used.
Several subscribers said they were hoping that charges for the period ofcommunication shutdown will be waived as was done in the aftermath of 2016street protests and 2014 floods in Kashmir.
“People could not recharge their phones or use any services, which led toan exponential rise in the number of disconnections,” said TRAI officials.At that time, the overall subscriber base of telecom companies fell from 10million to 9.5 million.
Even as the Indian government recently restored partial internet servicesin the region after almost six months of the clampdown, Kashmiribusinessmen say, they are still struggling to revive their businesses.Recently the government restored access to 2G services and access to 1,485whitelisted websites.
The internet ban in the region is believed to be the longest communicationsblackout in the history of any democratic country.
*No services but bills*
For Hashim Javaid, 32, a travel agent based in Srinagar, the summercapital, there has been no income over the past few months. The onlyearning member of the family of five, who earned his living making bookingsfor tourists, has been surviving, with his family, on their meager savings.
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“Due to an internet shutdown, our business has gone haywire. There was noway to receive online bookings, to communicate with tourists and transfermoney. All this led to him eventually losing customers,” he told AnadoluAgency over the phone.
But what has hurt him more is that despite all the hardships he faced dueto the internet shutdown, he is being forced to pay high internet bills toavoid disconnection.
“For the last few months, when there has been no internet and my businessalmost shut down, I am paying $17 each month for my Airtel dongle andanother $14 each for the Airtel and BSNL phone, that I was using forbookings,” said Javaid.
He had asked for disconnection in December, but the telecom companies askedhim to pay a $15 disconnection fee. “When the government deprived us ofcommunications, it should have asked the telecom companies to not chargeus,” he said.
Kashmir government officials say as many as 50,000 people scheduled toperform Umrah were unable to go in without communication.
“People from Kashmir go for Umrah in large numbers. After the communicationblockade, various operations for getting visas, tickets, etc came to agrinding halt. Some travel agents shifted to the Indian capital New Delhiwhich helped a few people go.
This is indeed a loss to the government as well,” Sheikh Aashiq, head ofthe Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told *Anadolu Agency*.
“Losses due to the shutdown have been high. Every sector has suffered hugelosses. Be it handicrafts, silk carpets, information, and technology,e-commerce or logistics, most were affected by this internet gag,” addedAashiq.
A preliminary economic loss assessment report released by KCCI estimatedthe economic losses from August 5 to December 3 at more than $2 billion. -Anadolu Agency