Occupied Kashmir - 1.4m people in IOK give up phones due to internet shutdown

Occupied Kashmir - 1.4m people in IOK give up phones due to internet shutdown 

Srinagar, February 18, 2020 (PPI-OT):ln occupied Kashmir, 1.4 million people gave up mobile phones due to the continued internet shutdown and communications blockade. The data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that through last November, the telecom sector recorded negative growth of 12.59% in the territory, with 1.46 million people surrendering their phone connections in the occupied territory.

The communication blockade in Kashmir began on August 5, last year, when India abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to occupied Jammu and Kashmir. In the first month of shutdown, the territory started showing negative growth of 1.14%, with 132,334 subscribers giving up their mobile connections. Ironically, while there were no mobile internet and broadband services, residents say that they are constantly getting bills from telecom companies for services they have not used. 

“People could not recharge their phones or use any services, which led to an exponential rise in the number of disconnections,” said TRAI officials. At that time, the overall subscriber base of telecom companies fell from 10 million to 9.5 million. The internet ban in Kashmir is the longest communications blackout in the history of any democratic country. PPI