No signal! How lack of cellular connectivity is giving Arunachal’s people a tough time

Rajendra Kumar*, an Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, posted at a Indo-China border outpost in Shi Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh has been relentlessly trying to call his family in Uttar Pradesh. But all his attempts to connect to his folks to enquire about his pregnant wife's health have gone into vain due to the erratic mobile network in the area.

Shoma Das*, who is a beneficiary of a centrally-sponsored scheme, has been doing the rounds of the lone bank in Mechuka for the last eight days to know whether her account has been credited with the money through Direct Benefit Transfer, but has had to return home disappointed as internet services have been disrupted in the entire district.

Shimoy*, a 20-year-old youth, is frustrated as he has not been able to call his friends in Itanagar, the state’s headquarters, to ask about the college admission dates.

People living in Arunachal Pradesh's border areas have been battling poor mobile connectivity, including unreliable networks from Airtel and BSNL. The issue has made it difficult for people to make even emergency calls to family members, carry out day to day transactions, and for security forces to communicate with their families.

“The ground reality is that all of us, be it the people in administration, youths, women, students, security forces are facing the same trouble due to lack of mobile and internet connectivity. Promises are being made by the government and the service providers but nothing is being done,” said a representative of the Adi Students Union, on the condition of anonymity, adding that despite repeated memorandums submitted to concerned authorities the situation has not changed.

Even as ordinary people have to face daily struggles, during emergency situations like the 2019 AN32 plane crash, the administration and the security forces, in the border sensitive area, have to face a harrowing time due to erratic mobile network in the district.

Nestled amidst huge snowclad mountains with towering pine plantations, lush green valleys, gurgling rivers, rivulets, and waterfalls, the Shi Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh has emerged as one of the most sought-after tourist destinations. However, the issue of poor mobile and internet services has emerged as a stumbling block in the development of Shi Yomi as tourist hotspot — both locally and globally.

The inability to exploit the tourism potential of the area, however, is a smaller problem compared to the security risk posed by the lack of proper mobile and internet connectivity.

Recently, the Army said in the mountain villages of Arunachal, people are greeted with a message from a Chinese network every time they turn their phones on. The Army said the villagers, along the entire 1,126 km-long border in Arunachal, get signals from a leading telecom player in China.

Realising the magnitude of the problem, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu during his December 2021 visit to Anjaw district, which shares its border with China, promised that 980 4G Base Tower Station (BTS) will be erected by Airtel in the bordering areas of the state. But close to 2.5 years later, the project is far from completion. As proper connectivity eludes the area, people continue to suffer and security remains fraught with risks.

“The state government is deeply concerned about the situation and had taken up the matter with the concerned authorities in New Delhi recently. The state government had signed an agreement with Airtel to install 980 mobile towers in the bordering areas of the state. However, the company has failed to install the towers, and many towers, which have been installed, have malfunctioned, leading to public ire on the issue,” said Arunachal minister PD Sona.

“If things don’t improve soon, the state government will be left with no option other than scrap the agreement with Airtel and look for other options,” Sona said.

While the government is trying its best to ensure proper mobile and internet connectivity in all the bordering areas of Arunachal Pradesh certain issues like inaccessibility to the locations selected for installation of the towers, inclement weather, and difficulty in acquiring land for installation are delaying the entire process.

One of the reasons for the current state is that the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh had always remained a neglected lot under successive governments both at the Centre and the state.

Even as the lack of basic amenities in the bordering areas resulted in migration of villagers from the bordering villages to the towns, it gave China the required space to launch a 'psychological war' against India in the region.

The situation has, however, changed over the last decade due to the Centre’s ‘Act East’ policy under which a slew of developmental projects have been undertaken. India continues to strengthen its defense forces in Arunachal by stationing more men and machines in the forward locations, building several roads and bridges which are of strategic importance and revamping Advanced Landing Ground (ALGs).

In order to foster rapid development in the bordering villages of the state, the Centre has taken up a highly ambitious project in the name of Vibrant Village Programme (VVP). VVP has been launched with an aim to bring in rapid progress in the bordering villages close to the Indo-China border. India shares 3,488 km of border with China that runs along the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Centre had identified 662 villages across the Line of Actual Control and VVP is being implemented in 455 villages of Arunachal Pradesh. The Centre has allocated a sum of Rs 4,800 crore to be spent starting from the 2022-23 fiscal to 2025-26 financial year. The main objective of VVP is construction of infrastructure which includes roads and bridges to connect the villages, power supply, housing, building tourist centers, and extend support for livelihood generation.

However, despite efforts made by the government and various other concerned authorities, connectivity, still remains a major issue for the frontier state.

(*Some names have been changed to protect identities.)