Airtel Restores Services in Delhi, Vodafone Says Data Suspended for 24hrs

Update #1, 2:30PM IST: Sources at Bharti Airtel have stated that all communication services are being restored to normal status at the moment, in all affected areas in Delhi. However, responding to complaints on Twitter, Vodafone India has stated that mobile internet services have been suspended "as per the directive received from the government". As a result, users would not be able to access mobile data services for 24 hours.

Telecom services were suspended in parts of New Delhi till 1PM as per a government directive, in the wake of planned protests and demonstrations in the National Capital Region against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The incident was been confirmed on Twitter by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, which responded to user queries on the social media platform stating that services were suspended following a government order requesting the same. Reports also stated that even Reliance Jio implemented the same suspension of services in compliance of a directive received from the Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Responding to tweets regarding non-functioning network connectivity in parts of Delhi, Bharti Airtel's support handle on Twitter said, "Please be informed that as per government directive, data services have currently been restricted in your area. Inconvenience is deeply regretted." Vodafone India was more specific in describing the issue, stating, "As per the directive received from the Government, Services are stopped at few locations (Jamia, Saheen bagh, Bawana, Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Mandi House and part of Walled city). As a result of this you will not be able to use services till 1pm at these locations."

Interestingly, Bharti Airtel has also been reported to have been deleting some of its older tweets, where it responded to users stating the debacle. In its initial tweets, Airtel did not confirm a timeline within which services may be restored, while Vodafone's tweets suggested that mobile network services should be restored to normal state in the coming minutes. While services continued to be down post 1PM (the suggested deadline), reports on the internet as well as from independent users presently in the affected areas state that services are slowly resuming to normal condition. The story is presently developing, and will be updated as events progress through the day.