Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 28 September 2021
Katchal is one of the few populated Islands of A & N Islands which has not been connected with CANI Submarine OFC. The Island had a population of 2685 when the last census was conducted in the year 2011. Katchal has faced several communication blackouts in the past two years. The last communication blackout occurred at Katchal Island last week.
The Island currently has 01 BTS of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and all the residents of Katchal Island are completely dependent on the mobile services provided by BSNL.
Due to the non-availability of an alternate mobile network, when the sole mobile BTS goes down the Island gets totally disconnected from the rest of the world. These frequent communication blackouts at Katchal Island seems preventable but the residents allege that BSNL is not making any efforts to solve this recurring problem.
According to the residents, BSNL does not have a technical staff at Katchal Island and the services of the lone BTS is being maintained by an unqualified staff who has been recruited to keep a watch on the assets of BSNL on the Island.
The residents of the Island also informed Nicobar Times that equipment worth lakhs of Rupees is lying at Katchal without any maintenance and henceforth the residents of Katchal Island are not able to get proper mobile connectivity.
The residents also informed that the condition of the building of BSNL at Katchal Island is very bad and there has been no effort by the company to keep its assets in order.
The non-Availability of internet connectivity on the Island is yet another problem which the general public faces every day at Katchal. Apart from 2G mobile services Katchal has no other mode of communication with the outside world. The lack of internet connectivity is causing many problems for the students and the general public.
The residents of Katchal further informed Nicobar Times that the sole mobile BTS of Katchal Island doesn’t have backup power and because of which the equipment gets damaged again and again and the need arises for its replacement.
In this connected world, a person gets furious if the connectivity goes down even for a few seconds and the residents of Katchal Island are helplessly living for days without mobile network connectivity. The residents are hopefully looking towards BSNL to improve the connectivity at the Island.
The senior officers of BSNL should intervene and ensure that proper connectivity is available at all times at Katchal Island for the convenience of the general public, further FTTH broadband should be introduced at Katchal Island using satellite bandwidth.