Shillong, July 15: The Residence of Ri Bhoi District has sent letter to the Chief Minister Mr. Conrad K Sangma to complaints regarding poor Airtel mobile network services in northern periphery of Ri-Bhoi district.
In the letter said that the residence would like to bring to your kind attention the serious and persistent problem faced by the residents of more than five dozen villages along the northern periphery of Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya due to the extremely poor mobile network services provided by Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel, which has been entrusted under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to provide mobile connectivity in these remote and tribal-dominated areas, has utterly failed in discharging its responsibility.
The service is highly erratic with frequent and prolonged network outages, often lasting several hours. As a result, the villagers, who are mostly poor tribal pre-paid users, remain cut off from essential services, emergency communications, and financial transactions, causing immense hardship.
The villagers have already registered complaint with the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), and even wrote to the Union Communication Minister Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Despite the complaints, Airtel’s service continued to remain erratic and extremely poor in the area. We also understand the Ministry of Communication also provides financial support to Airtel to ensure smooth mobile connectivity in our area.
Despite the repeated failures, Bharti Airtel shamelessly continues to collect full payments (in advance) from the poor tribal users without offering any extension of validity of the plans, or compensation.
This not only amounts to negligence but also exploitation of marginalized communities who are already struggling with limited resources.
There are 32 signatories in the letter that urged the Chief Minister for kind intervention to look into the matter and speak to Shri Sunil Bharti Mittal, the owner of Bharti Airtel, and ensure that, Airtel is held accountable for its poor service delivery in these areas.
The Department of Telecommunications is informed for an urgent technical audit. Alternative service providers are considered if Airtel is unable to meet its obligations. Villagers are compensated for the prolonged service outages and inconvenience caused.
This issue directly impacts the welfare and digital inclusion of a large tribal population. We hope the state government will take up this matter seriously and ensure timely redressal.
