The office of CCA, J&K deals with licensees operating in service areas comprising of state of Jammu &Kashmir. The service area of J&K covers the area consisting of five Telecom districts namely, Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, Leh and Rajouri all within the line on control (LOC) within the international borders (IB). Prior to the formation of BSNL as incumbent operator in the year 2000, it was the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and then the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) which was providing telecommunication services to the state. Then with opening up of the sector three telecom operators, viz. Bharti Airtel Limited, Dishnet Wireless and Reliance Communication Limited obtained license for this Service Area and launched their services. The state of Jammu & Kashmir being under special dispensation under Constitution of India and due to its strategic location and tough climatic conditions in many parts of the area it’s a challenging task to roll out services and provide coverage. Despite this its heartening fact that liberalization and competition has encouraged twelve telecom companies to obtain license for this service area. Presently eight of them are operational and remaining four licensees are yet to launch their services. Besides, two Internet service Providers have taken license but they are yet to start their services. |