The heavy rain caused by cyclone Michaung during the first week of December 2023 has severely damaged cables and infrastructure of internet service providers across Chennai.
While the connectivity has been restored in many locations, consumers in few pockets still seem be struggling for access. Service providers on the other hand have deployed additional workforce to handle the situation in rain-affected areas. It took time for power to be restored in many locations and that was also a challenge for the technical team of internet service providers.
Bala Malladi, CEO of ACT Fibernet, said: “Almost 35% of our base was down due to extended power shutdown and water logging during first 48 hrs. We restored services of almost 90% customers by December 6 and 95% customers by December 8. The last 5% of our customers’ network had massive damage and we have to re-build the entire last mile network to restore their services. Some outskirts of south and north Chennai were severely impacted and did not have access for restoration.
“While, we were restoring the network, we also received higher than normal inflow of tickets, during the last three weeks. It has resulted in some delay in restoration as teams were working on FIFO basis to restore the network. We have less than 1.5% of our customers who are still down and we expect full normalcy in next 72 hours,” he pointed out.
Internet has almost been restored in Chennai. The technical teams went on boats and tractors to ensure that connectivity was restored, according to Airtel sources. A spokesperson from Jio said: “Our teams are continuously monitoring the network connectivity across the State, especially areas that are highly affected by Cyclone Michaung. Furthermore, we have ensured all necessary arrangements, including the deployment of additional manpower, vehicles, power backup, and spare parts at locations that are impacted, to facilitate a faster response time and minimise downtime.”
The heavy rain and flooding in the Southern districts including Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari has disrupted internet connections there. But work is on full swing to restore it, sources said. The source from Airtel said that connectivity will be normal in the Thoothukudi area soon.
“There are issues in a few locations like Velachery, Tambaram and Perungudi. It is taking time because in some places the cables were completely damaged. Also, those in our technical teams were also stuck at their homes as their areas were inundated and the water receded only after December 10. For the last 10 days, we have been working on every ticket that is raised,” said a technical staff of one of the internet service providers.
There was no clarity on whether consumers who are yet to get connectivity will be given discount on their bills by their service providers. But Mr.Malladi said, “Even while this is a force majeure event, we always have processed reasonable and appropriate waivers to our customers who were down for long , even during the Vardah cyclone. We intend to do the same this time too.”
A source who tracks telecom industry said that internet service providers have also suffered huge losses. “They have to replace the boxes and fiber cables in many locations which is a huge cost,” he noted.
