Now prepaid mobile will reach Valley & N-E too

Many phone companies still have no network coverage in the Valley and the North-East. And till now, if your phone went on the blink, you did not even have the option of buying pre-paid calling time.

The problem was graphically illustrated during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visits to the Valley and Manipur when some members of his team struggled to communicate with New Delhi on their mobile phones. A decision then was taken to re-examine the bar on pre-paid services.

Also, since he had urged both Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir to move beyond insurgency, the Prime Minister apparently thought it appropriate to demonstrate his faith in the citizens of these two states. On a more pragmatic note, while the bar on pre-paid services was extremely inconvenient to ordinary people, it was by no means a foolproof method of stopping insurgents from communicating among themselves. By changing this policy just three days after returning from the North-east, the Prime Minister hopes to send out a strong signal.