Srinagar/New Delhi, July 23: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Thursday activated Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, along with select districts of Assam and Nagaland, to ensure uninterrupted mobile connectivity after heavy rainfall, cloudbursts and landslides disrupted telecom networks.
The emergency measure allows subscribers of any telecom service provider to automatically connect to another available mobile network if their home network becomes unavailable, ensuring continued communication during the ongoing disaster situation.
Besides Poonch and Rajouri, the facility has been activated in Sibsagar, Charaideo and Jorhat districts of Assam and Mon district of Nagaland.
The DoT said the decision was taken after communication infrastructure in the affected regions suffered disruptions due to adverse weather conditions, with the department directing all telecom service providers to immediately enable ICR.
The roaming facility will also be available to visitors travelling to the affected districts from other parts of the country. The department said the move is expected to improve communication access for residents, disaster response teams, healthcare workers and government agencies involved in relief and rescue operations.
The DoT said it is closely monitoring the situation through its field units and coordinating with telecom operators for the speedy restoration of normal telecom services in the affected areas.
The department also advised mobile users to keep Automatic Network Selection enabled on their phones to allow seamless switching to an available network. If automatic connection fails, users can manually select another available network through their handset’s mobile network settings.
