Throttling of high speed internet in Srinagar following militant attack in Karan Nagar has left public in general and students in particular fuming, while the business community says it is incurring huge losses due to the oft-repeated government tactic.
The state government has ordered telecom companies operating in Kashmir to reduce the internet speed from 4G to 2G. However, the subscribers fume stating ‘why should they pay for the period when the telecom companies reduce the speed of the internet’.
“It is a known fact that the state government orders telecom companies to reduce internet speed, but why should common people suffer and lose money because of the tacit understanding between government and telecom operators,” asked Muhammad Akbar, a Srinagar resident.
“If telecom companies are under obligation to reduce the internet speed during some period, but why should a subscriber be charged for that period,” said another subscriber, Ajaz Lolpuri.
” I have recharged my Jio number for period of 70 days, out of it even if a company fails to provide 4g speed internet for a day, they should extend my validity by a day, which is not happening,” he said.
Similarly, the students and civil services aspirants who are preparing for the exams also flay the state government for imposing curbs on internet.
“What can government achieve by reducing internet speed,” asked Suhail Ahmad, a KAS aspirant. “By doing so they are only denying us a chance to prepare as 50 percent of the study material is assessed through internet.”
The business community is also aghast over snapping or throttling internet speed.
Farhan Kitab, spokesperson of Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Association (KTMF), an umbrella body of business organisations, said it is unheard of that if any incident takes place, first thing authorities do is they snap internet or reduce its speed.
“As if the gunfight is taking place on internet,” he said that internet blockade led to losses upto 50 percent. “Most purchases happen through credit or debit card payments and whenever internet services are snapped, we face huge losses. The customer footfall also witnesses a steep decline,” he said.
A senior executive of Telecom Company said that they are bound to oblige to the orders of security forces. “We are not reducing internet speed or blocking the access for our convenience. We are legally bound to follow the instructions of the authorities and people have to bear that in mind that it is the government which orders such decisions.”
“We don’t earn anything by blocking or reducing internet speed,” he said adding infact we lose money as our traffic goes down.
According to Cellular Operators’ Association of India, telecom companies suffered losses worth Rs 180 crore during 2016 uprising due to complete suspension of internet and voice calling.