The state government has promised – countless times – that it will provide all facilities to private companies willing to do business in the state. For more than a dozen ICT units that have been set up by in the state, however, the promise has turned into a nightmare. These units are incurring heavy losses due to the bad internet connectivity in the state.

Though, these units have been complaining about the frequent breakdown of the Internet connectivity – the lifeline of their business – for long, the last two weeks have been especially frustrating as the connection went virtually dead. Their repeated requests to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the government – the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the state – to make the service more reliable fell on deaf ears.

And the government’s failure to keep its promise of ensuring reliable Internet connectivity to these companies – most of these units do outsourcing work including Software development, Project development and consultancy work for global companies – has cost them lucrative business deals and opportunities.

“It virtually paralyses the ICT business units. We are not able to provide our customers real-time support and services they require. As a result, the long-term confidence of our customers is hit and potential customers are driven away,” said Yasser Kazmi, CEO of Myasa Network Solutions, one of the first ICT units in the valley. “Also, at the end of the day we pay our employees without productivity that translates into losses for the company”.

The reliability of BSNL’s broadband connectivity in Kashmir has, in fact, always been an issue. Unlike in other states of India, there are no Quality-of-Service guarantees and no Service Level Agreements exist between the clients and BSNL. The companies here also have to pay higher service charges than in other parts of the country even as the service in other states is far better.

“Over the last two weeks our ability to serve our clients has been badly affected due to the Internet failure, said Fayaz Bhat, COO of Musky Software which specialises in banking solutions and managed IT consultancy. Its clients are based mainly in Africa and the US. “Just as we start to build trust with our clients overseas, the internet fails and all our efforts go down the drain. This is not the first time that Internet failure has affected us. The problem recurs periodically”.