SRI NAGAR: Despite the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s announcement on restoration of SMS and broadband internet services in the Valley, the SMS service was not fully restored on Wednesday and was confined to BSNL postpaid phones only while the internet service was also not restored to all government-run hospitals. The SMS service worked from December 31 midnight only on BSNL postpaid phones. It was not working in Jio, Airtel and Vodafone connections. Airtel officials said they had received communication from the government on restoration of SMS service on postpaid phones but due to technical flaw they were unable to restore SMS service.
Sources in Jio said they were not sure whether the operator has received any communication about restoration of SMS service. Most of the staff is on New Year holiday, they said. There are 40 lakh postpaid mobile subscribers in the Valley. Government spokesman Rohit Kansal said all the operators had been asked to restore SMS service with immediate effect. “We’ll look into the issue,” he said. Director, Health Service, Dr Samir Mattoo, said broadband internet had been restored only in some hospitals. Dr Nazir Choudhary, Medical Superintendent of SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, said the service was restored by the government but was not working due to some technical issue.