Prepaid Mobile Services in Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast Extended for a Year

Prepaid services for telecom subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern states were on Thursday extended till March 31 next year, but restrictions on roaming facility for the northern state will continue.

Extending the services for the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, a notification said the services will continue to function from April 1 this year for a period of one year.

"The current restrictions on roaming facilities between the prepaid subscribers of Jammu and Kashmir services area and the rest of the country shall also remain in effect during the period," the notification of the Telecom Ministry said.

Under this provision, the number of prepaid subscriber from Jammu and Kashmir will not work outside the state. Similarly, no prepaid mobile from the rest of the country will be working in the state due to security restrictions, officials said.

Out of the 1.04 crore subscriber base in the state, 30 percent are prepaid customers.

Earlier the number of prepaid subscribers in the state was higher, but after a prolonged ban on prepaid services due to the unrest in Kashmir Valley in last July, many of them converted it to postpaid.

The valley witnessed months of disruption after poster boy of Hizbul Mujahideen militant group Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter in South Kashmir.

There will be no restrictions on roaming facilities for residents of the Northeast, the notification said.

This year, however, the services have been extended only for a year whereas in 2015, it was extended for two years till March 31, 2017.