It's Buffering! Why Slow Net Still Ails City

Phone Internet ‘dark Spots’ Disrupt Lives as Laying Lines and Installing Towers for Swelling User Base Prove a Daunting Task

- Vidya S

IT WAS Anubha Singh’s birthday earlier this month, but instead of being part of the celebrations at her house in South Delhi’s Kalkaji, she was constantly rebooting her phone.

“This mobile Internet ruined my special day. Messages sent by my loved ones were not reaching me. Nobody was able to contact me. It’s a routine affair. Complaints to the service provider haven’t helped,” said the 35-year-old data analyst who works with a Gurugram firm.

Ekta Sharma (30), who lives with her family in South Delhi's Siri Fort area, has tried almost all mobile networks, but without any luck. “I have a 4G connection but Internet speed is slower than 2G.”

Rameez Raja, who teaches at IP University, is equally harried. His phone doesn’t work when he is at his South Delhi’s Okhla home. “I live on the third floor. I have to go to the terrace to use my phone.”

These three are not isolated cases. Phone Internet speed for downloads and web browsing remains sluggish and continues to disrupt daily lives for thousands of people as laying optical fiber and installing towers for a swelling user base are proving to be a daunting task in a city like Delhi.

To grow their customer base, telecom companies are waging a tariff and free data war but have failed to augment network connectivity. Telecom experts claim the current infrastructure in Delhi is sufficient only for half of the demand.

The situation may get more worrying as almost half of mobile towers under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation are running without permission. Similar is the situation in other parts of Delhi.