Srinagar, Mar 1: With market pressure telling on them, the mobile service providers in J&K are mulling to approach state government for lifting of ban on Short Messaging Service. The service providers asserted that the bar on the facility was causing impediments in providing Number Portability Service to the customers.
 “We are in touch with service operators and are making a joint representation to the state government to lift the ban on (prepaid) SMS service,” said Aircel Communication, spokesman, Jitendhar Hirani, at the launch of 3-G service by the company in the Valley. Last week Reliance Communications had started the service in Kashmir.
 The government of India had imposed ban on prepaid mobile services and SMS facility in late 2009, citing security reasons.
 The move had not only rendered thousands of Kashmiri youth jobless but most of the service providers had shifted their main offices to Jammu, drawing severe criticism from Valley people for the companies were reportedly earning more revenue from Valley.
 However, the government lifted ban on pre-paid mobile service in January 2010 followed by revocation of six month long ban on SMS on postpaid connections in December 2010.
 “We are experiencing certain glitches in providing services to the customers to access number portability facility due to SMS ban,” company’s Circle Business Head, Gurdeep Singh, said in response to a question.
 To a separate question, he said the company has no intentions to leave Kashmir, asserting that they have at least 18 lakh customer bases in both regions of Kashmir and Jammu.
 “It is equal to almost 34 percent of the total customers. The ratio of the customers in both regions is equal,” he said.
 “It is a momentous occasion for Aircel to launch the 3-G service in the beautiful Valley,” said Hirani.
 The launch of the 3rd generation service in JK had got delayed due to non-clearance by the Union Home and Defence Ministry last year, citing security reasons.
 The 3G telecom services allow faster connectivity than what is available and enable applications such as internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange.
 The six telecom providers- BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, Tata Indicom and Reliance- have a strong 40 lakh postpaid and pre-paid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
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