Telcos lose Rs. 2.45 cr every hour of the Internet shutdown

New Delhi: India’s mobile telephony operators have reported a loss of Rs2.45 crores per hour as a result of the central government shutting down Internet services during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act., COAI’s principal director Rajan Mathews told Reuters.

Protests have been occurring nationwide for almost three weeks after the bill was passed in both the houses of the parliament and became an act. Opposition parties too have led some of these protests claiming the act to be anti-muslim and unconstitutional. The central government reacted to this by deploying police along with discontinuing internet services to control the protests and propagation of false rumours.

Telecom companies told Reuters that the government has ordered the shut down of mobile internet service in 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Services were also was shut in the outskirts of Delhi till the morning of Dec. 28, the report said.

Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) which includes Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio said that shutting down internet and mobile telephone services should not be the first priority in such cases.

Internet service in Kashmir was shut down for 145 days after Article 370 was abrogated.