Jammu & Kashmir: 4G Internet Services Restored In Entire Valley After Nearly 18 Months

4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir has been fully reinstated on Friday, the Principle Secretary, Power and Information informed. 

(Representative Image/ Getty)

Srinagar: 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir has been fully reinstated on Friday, Rohit Kansal, J&K Principle Secretary, Power and Information informed. This is for the first time ever since abrogation of Article 370 in the valley that internet is being fully restored. At present, 4G mobile services are available in only two districts of J&K -- Udhampur in the Jammu division and Ganderbal in the Kashmir division.

Reacting to the news, National Conference Vice-President and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and congratulation the people of Kashmir. "4G Mubarak! For the first time since Aug 2019 all of J&K will have 4G mobile data. Better late than never," he tweeted.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4G mobile internet services being restored in entire J&amp;K <a href="https://twitter.com/diprjk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@diprjk</a></p>&mdash; Rohit Kansal (@kansalrohit69) <a href="https://twitter.com/kansalrohit69/status/1357692033549279240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>February 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mobile telephony and Internet services were suspended on August 5, 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated and the state bifurcated and downgraded to a Union Territory. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4G Mubarak! For the first time since Aug 2019 all of J&amp;K will have 4G mobile data. Better late than never.</p>&mdash; Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarAbdullah/status/1357695596254040064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>February 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The development comes 18 months after the mobile internet were shut in the valley on August 5, 2019 by administration citing security concerns. While mobile telephony was restored across the valley after five months, restrictions on Internet services have since continued.

There has been strong demand from businessmen, students and professionals for the restoration of 4G mobile Internet services in Jammu & Kashmir. A report by news agency IANS in December last year revealed that people in Kashmir were on the verge of losing their jobs due to plummeting mobile phone sales as internet services were not available. 

In a recent session of Rajya Sabha, Centre had informed Parliament that a 3-tier of democracy has now been established in the valley. "After the constitutional changes and reorganisation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the union territory has been fully integrated into India's mainstream and 3-tier system of grassroots level democracy has now been established there after Panchayati Raj elections," Centre informed.

In August 2019, the Central government revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir and at the same time, a reorganisation Act was also passed reconstituting the state into two UTs -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The reorganisation took effect from October 31, 2019.