Since 25th of January, Ladakh is digitally disconnected from rest of India, due to a fault with BSNL Optical Fiber Cable near Zoji La.

With some of the heaviest snowfall seen in Ladakh and Kashmir in recent years, Drass has been cut off from Kargil. And while the army team has confirmed technical issue with OFC at Shaitan Nallah near Zoji La. BSNL’s team from Kargil is unable to travel to Drass, in order to further investigate the issue.

Broadband, WiMAX, WLL, mobile, STD/ISD and even army telecommunication has been affected due to this OFC fault.

As per the BSNL TDM, Phunchok Dorjay, if there is any technical fault, it will be restored within 2-3 days, once BSNL technical team is able to travel to Drass. However, if there is a major damage to the cables, then it can only be repaired, once the road is clear.

We hope, it isn’t a major fault with the OFC and it can be repaired within the next few days. Otherwise, Ladakh will continue to remain cut off both digitally and by land from rest of India for the next couple of months or more!

For travelers visiting Ladakh in the upcoming days, it is best to inform your loved ones in advance, that it would be difficult to call them during your trip, so that they do not worry unnecessarily.

And for the sake of travelers and locals alike, we really hope BSNL and other private operators lay OFC through Manali as well, in order to provide some redundancy to their network.