Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

The siren that took 15 years to ring—Inside India’s emergency tech saga

Millions of phones just buzzed with a trial siren, but the paperwork for this 'instant' alert has been in the works since the 2011 Mumbai blasts.

At least 15 years before last week’s trial disaster management siren was unleashed on millions of mobile phones, formal consultation of stakeholders had already taken off on emergency communication services in the country.

It was in November 2011 that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) came out with apre-consultation paper on priority call routing in mobile networks during emergencies.

The trigger was the Mumbai bomb blasts of July 13, 2011, which shook Indias financial capital.

The crisis led to severe congestion in the citys cellular networks, prompting Trai to initiate its consultation process on the subject.

The idea was to ease mobile network congestion for personnel engaged in response and recovery during emergencies, while highlighting the importance of modern telecom infrastructure.

The paper referred to the July 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings as well as international disasters, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the Thailand tsunami in 2004, and the Northridge earthquake in 1994, to bring out the need for robust communication systems during periods of network congestion.

Historically, major disasters are the most intense generators of telecommunications traffic, and the resulting surge of demand can clog even thewell-managed networks, the regulator noted back in 2011.

This historical context is........

© ThePrint