The Centre has instructed all telecom service providers to immediately activate intra-circle roaming (ICR) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) until September 2, 2025, following a collapse of telecom services across large parts of the region due to incessant rainfall and flood-like conditions in the Jammu division.
The directive, issued to Bharti Airtel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Limited, mandates that the ICR facility be extended to all in-roamers on priority.
Telecom networks across J&K reported outages after widespread damage to optical fibre cables caused by continuous rain. The communication blackout hampered emergency response measures and triggered panic among residents. Operators said technical teams have been deployed on the ground to restore connectivity at the earliest.
