Operators including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) have set up a national control centre to monitor the evolving situation, while stocking up additional fuel for telecom towers, and enabling intra-circle roaming, among other steps to ensure network continuity.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) met telecom operators on May 7 to ensure adoption of disaster management protocols, especially in border areas.
The government gave specific instructions through an official memo, a copy of which was seen by ET, asking telcos to set up national-level control centre-operating round the clock-to monitor the situation. Each company has also appointed a nodal officer for coordinating with the DoT and the home ministry.
“In light of the evolving security situation and the critical need to maintain seamless communication for national security and effective disaster response, it is imperative that all necessary measures are taken to ensure uninterrupted telecom connectivity, particularly to Emergency Operations Centres at both state and district levels,” the DoT said in its memo.”This situation is being treated as equivalent to disaster management at a very high scale, specifically at the national level,” said an industry executive. “There are protocols in place to ensure spare parts and alternate routes of communications in the event of a disruption.” The executive noted that telcos routinely conduct stress-testing of networks as part of their standard operating procedure (SOP) for disaster management.”We have observed coordinated DDoS attacks, zero-day exploits targeted at critical infrastructure along the bordering states in the last 48 hours…,” said a cybersecurity advisor to large corporations.
“It first appeared to be a mass cyberattack by state actors to cripple the digital backbone, shut down utilities, before Pakistani forces could launch a full-fledged retaliation to ‘Operation Sindoor’. However, the intelligence was not justified, and these attacks were effectively thwarted,” the person explained.
Telcos are being advised to strengthen firewalls, enhance vigilance on vendor infrastructure, sensitise employees about phishing emails, and shut non-critical cloud systems.
Executives said telcos have activated their individual Business Continuity Plans (BCP), details of which have not been revealed due to sensitivities involved. BCP is a strategic document outlining procedures and processes a company will follow to maintain or resume essential business functions during and after a disruptive event.
Most of the focus on maintaining operations is on the border areas and around 400-500 kilometres around them.
