SHILLONG: A review meeting was held in Mawkyrwat recently by the District Level Digital Connectivity Monitoring Committee which has been formed for ensuring an effective mechanism to review, monitor and facilitate telecom projects in the district.
Chaired by Deputy Commissioner, Isawanda Laloo, the committee decided to take necessary action for ensuring timely completion of projects and to address any other issues relating to telecommunications in the district.
The meeting reviewed the status of installation of mobile towers of various telecom service providers, laying of OFC cables, and telecom expansion plans of the providers.
During the meeting, the chairperson addressed the members which included the SDO (C) Ranikor, SDE BSNL, nodal officers from Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone and district officials from PWD Department, by stating that South West Khasi Hills comprises several remote areas where there is no mobile and internet connectivity which deprives the public of basic communication facilities.
During the meeting, BSNL informed that the two towers at Nongjri and Tynnai have gone live but due to electricity issues at both sites, there is heavy reliance on power back-up and DG sets which leads to erratic network in case of power failure.
The Chairperson noted that BSNL network has been down for the last two months in Ranikor sub-divisional headquarters except during the elections and took a strong view of the unreliability of the service provider in ensuring uninterrupted cellular network.
She also asked the SDE to look into the matter at the earliest.
Meanwhile, representatives of Reliance Jio informed that in West and South West Khasi Hills, a total of 27 mobile towers have been installed and that most of the sites in Mawkyrwat are fully functional.
It was also informed that there are 17 sites in Ranikor which are non-reachable due to difficult terrain whereas two towers have been installed in Nongjri.
At present, optical fibre network (OFC) has been laid up to Mawkyrwat and it is expected that the same will be completed in 3-4 months’ time in Ranikor.