After 7 days, mobile internet resumes in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: After seven days of ban, mobile internet services resumed in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night.
From sending money over internet to filing income tax return or shopping on e-commerce websites during the festive season, people had a tough time in accessing utility services across the state when internet on mobile phones and dongles were snapped for a week since August 26.Operations of industrial units as well as corporate houses, e-commerce, cab services, banks and hotels among others were hampered. Corporate companies faced difficulties in business dealings, foreign and domestic transactions, payment and sending dispatch orders.
The e-commerce websites, app-based cab services, net banking services saw drop of more than 90% in transactions and bookings. In the past few days, people in Gujarat had not been able to shop using our app-based festival offers due to non-availability of internet, said Girish Huria, head of communications, eBay India. "I get raw material from various states and track our trucks on road which we failed to do in the past few days as there was not internet," added a city-based businessmen.
The losses ran into thousands of crores as industries looked for other options to continue business."I had to shift to our Mumbai office for a couple of days to ensure the transactions were smooth. The authorities should have allowed mobile internet services to be functional on at least corporate telecom accounts as business had come to a standstill due to the suspended internet services," said Piruz Khambatta, chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing. According the officials of the department of telecommunica tions (DoT), telecom companies, which provide internet services, also incurred losses to the tune of Rs 30 crore till August 31.
"Communication through internet is the crux of business nowadays and this has hampered business transactions adversely. We were totally cut off from the international market," said Bipin Patel, senior vice-president, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).
One of the industry associations had also written to the Gujarat chief minister.