India to restore postpaid mobile phone services in IoK from Monday

• Postpaid services will be restored in all 10 districts of IoK.
• India suspended all communication networks in the region on August 5 when the curfew was imposed.

After more than 60 days of communication blackout in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK), the Government of India has decided to restore only postpaid mobile phone connections from October 14.

Principal Secretary of Planning Commission in IoK Rohit Kansal told the Indian media on Saturday that all postpaid mobile phones will be restored from October 14, ANI reported. "Having reviewed the situation, a decision has now been taken to restore mobile phone services in the remaining areas of IoK. All postpaid services irrespective of the telecom operator will stand restored and be functional from 12 noon, Monday, October 12. The will cover all 10 districts of the valley," Kansal said.

Rohit Kansal, J&K Principal Secretary(Planning Commission): All post paid mobile phones stand functional from Monday 12 noon in the remaining areas of J&K pic.twitter.com/CJOEXu4vGb

— ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2019

Postpaid mobile services were slated to resume from today, however, a last minute technical hitch led to deferring of the resumption of services. This move comes days after Indian government issued an advisory opening the Valley for tourists. Travel association bodies had approached the administration, saying that no tourist would like to come to the region where no mobile phones were working.

A curfew has been in place in IoK since August 5 by Indian government, which also suspended landline and internet services in the region. On August 17, landline services in 17 out of a little over 100 telephone exchanges in IoK were made operational. These exchanges were mainly in civil lines area, airport of Srinagar district and Cantonment area. While 2G mobile internet services were also restored in Jammu, Reasi, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts.