Explained: Impact Of 4G Ban On Broadband Users In J&K

On 5th February 2021, the ban on 4G internet was revoked from the entire Jammu & Kashmir. This was after more than a year that people across the former state could use high-speed internet on their mobile phones.

The ban was imposed by the Union Government while enforcing its decision to revoke J&K¡¯s special status in August 2019. But for the most part of this restriction, many people could still access high-speed internet using broadband services.

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The number of broadband users as per Telecom Authority of India in J&K as of February 2021 has increased by almost 61.8% since July 2019. While in India the broadband users have declined by about 3.1% during the same time. In this world where life can be crippled without good speed internet, limited options (for more than a year) made people turn toward broadband services in J&K.

In the late evening of August 4 internet along with mobile services and landline services were snapped in the then state of Jammu & Kashmir. This was followed by Indian Government abrogating Article 370 and splitting the state into two union Territories. The landline services were restored almost after a month followed by postpaid mobile services being restored in October 2019. The government then decided to restore 2G internet in January 2020. and the 4G internet was restored in the beginning of February 2021.

The government decided to restore the broadband services, initially in a few districts of Jammu and later in the whole of J&K. This literally made broadband the only source of high-speed internet in the whole of J&K up till February 2021. Since almost every sector of life is dependent on the internet, to access high speed internet people who could afford it had to opt for broadband services. Initially, BSNL was the only broadband service provider in J&K. It was in September 2019 that Jio launched its broadband services. They did so in J&K as well.

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As per the data available on the website of the Telecom Authority of India, there were 101,706 broadband users in J&K before the internet ban in July 2019. As of February 2021, these numbers stand at 164,445. Out of these 76,648 are Jio Fibre users while 87,797 are BSNL users. While in India there were 20,964,718 broadband users in July 2019 and they fell to 20,186,633 in February 2021.

In J&K as per the data, before the start of the internet ban, in July 2019 all broadband users were using BSNL broadband services. These numbers drastically changed post Jio started its operation in J & K. According to the data, from August 2019 till January 2020 the BSNL broadband users kept increasing and have been consistently decreasing since then. On the other hand the number of Jio Fibre users have been increasing ever since its inception.

This trend is somewhat similar to the trends in the whole of India, where BSNL is consistently losing its Broadband users, while Jio is experiencing a consistent increase in its broadband users. Airtel had also started their broadband service in the region but hasn¡¯t been able to make deep inroads. The TRAI has provided their data only from April 2020 to September 2020. And as per the data they had 9585 users in September 2020 in J&K.

The below graph depicts the number of Broadband users in J&K from July 2019 till February 2021.

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From the consumer's point of view, the internet blockade left them with no other option to access the high-speed internet, the importance of which need not be mentioned. For students, teachers, businessmen, journalists and almost everyone, access to the internet was crucial, especially after the pandemic restricted the world to their homes. And broadband became their only source for it.