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Business A struggling e-commerce and start-up community says it has become nearly impossible to build a sustainable business.

Interruptions in online connectivity may have cost the Kashmir valley 7,000 IT jobs. Credit: Reuters

Srinagar: For Zeeshan Mir, a young entrepreneur who runs an online marketing startup thatprovides photography and graphic solutions to other business units, frequent internet shutdownshas hit his business, which is dependent on uninterrupted online connectivity.

Shutting down of mobile internet limits me to a mere fraction of the audience that I usually have on days when mobile data works, says Mir. Its a shame how in these times of technological advancement, we are deprived of even basic internet access which is vital for our businesses to survive.

Iqra Ahmad, another young entrepreneur and owner of Tulpalav, an online clothing store, is also troubled by the frequent internet bans, which has heavily disrupted her online business start-up.

While the rest of the states have developed tremendously in the last couple of decades, from 2G to 3G to 4G high speed internet, we are deprived of even basic internet facilities here, she says with disappointment, adding that her entire business, which runs online, revolves around uninterrupted internet connectivity. From product display to product query to payment and delivery details, all of that happens online through social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, she says. Smooth internet connection is very essential for my online business work.

Ahmadsays frequent internet blockades not only impact her business, preventing her from reaching out to customers, but it also strains her small team of workers who find themselves out of work every time online connectivity is snapped by the authorities. This unpredictability and uncertainty of routine internet bans gets me back to square one apart from other business losses, she says. It makes me worry about my livelihood and that of my workers.

Whenever theres an internet ban, my sales go down by 50% as our customers cant order food via our online application, says Furqan Qureshi, another young entrepreneur who runs KartFood, an online home delivery application thathas tied up with many restaurants and fast food joints in Srinagar as a home delivery solution. Because of these frequent bans I have not been able to expand and employ more delivery boys, he says. My start-up is suffering.

Co-working spaces havealso been hit. Tabish Habib, a 27-year-old entrepreneur who runs ThinkPod, Kashmirs first and only co-working space and business incubator, says while businesses across the globe are moving towards digitised revolution, Kashmir is going backwards given the frequently enforced internet blockades thathamper ventures like hers. In a world filled with digital communication modules, enforcing a digital blackout doesnt make sense, she says. Students, businesses people, travelers and tourists all of them suffer due to these frequent internet blackouts.

She says the internet is the backbone of IT companies, e-commerce websites and individuals working remotely. For a co-working space, internet connectivity is not only the first preference for marketing and communication but also as a service to people who take spaces for their offices here, she says. As it is the economic resources are bleak in Kashmir and this digital blackout is going to make it worse with each passing day.

39 internet shutdowns and counting

Following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wanis killing in July last year, internet services were snapped for about four months in Kashmir, which meant over 2,920 hours without access, according tothe website internetshutdowns.in, which tracks incidents of internet shutdowns across India.

According to the figures compiled by the website, internet services in Jammu and Kashmirhave been shut down for a total of 39 times from 2012 till present. Online connectivity was snapped three times in 2012, five times each in 2013, 2014 and 2015, ten times in 2016 and, so far, 11 times this year.For over five months, from July 9 to November 19, 2016, mobile internet was also banned, and pre-paid mobile services were suspended until January 27.

Both mobile and broadband internet services have been shut down ten times from April to July 13 alone. The latest internet ban was enforced in the Valley by the authorities on July 12 when mobile internet was cut following the killing of three militants in Redbug in Budgam district.

Earlier in May, a month after authorities blocked 22 social media sites and mobile data services in the state, David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, and Michel Forst, the special rapporteur on human rights defenders, condemned the restrictions on the internet and social media services in Jammu and Kashmir. The restrictions had a disproportionate impact on the fundamental rights of everyone in Kashmir, he said, adding that the restrictions had the character of collective punishment.

According to areportby Brookings Institution, India has recorded more days of internet shutdown than Iraq or Pakistan. The report also estimates Rs 6,458 crore business losses to India due to the internet shutdowns over the past year or so, which is the highest harm caused to one country globally due to internet shutdowns.

Most of these disruptions are being carried out by state government agencies, often under the terms of broad legal powers such as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure derived from 19th century British Raj era provisions meant to empower police units and district administration officials to enforce curfew and confiscate property, wrote Apar Gupta, a lawyer, and Raman Jit Singh Chima, Policy Director with Access Now, in an Indian Express column last year, adding that the trend of shutdown orders by state government agencies undermines the division of power between the union and the states. When responding to protests or other public developments, many police officials and district administrators across India are making it part of their standard operating procedure to use this vague legal provision to issue orders to telecom providers to suspend mobile internet access across districts, and sometimes the entire state.

Business losses

Banning of internet has a huge impact on our work, says Farooq Kuthoo, the secretary general of Travel Agents Association of Kashmir. These days our entire work is dependent on internet and when the government blocks the internet, our business suffers 100% losses.

Kuthoo says he himself works on a business-to-business model as they make bookings online from other travel companies, hotels and business establishments. When internet is blocked we never get to know what happened to our bookings and other dealings, he says. And there is no alternative to know about the status as everything is online. He says most of their customers outside the state prefer to book their tickets online, which is easiest for them. But when we cant access our website when internet is banned, all bookings get cancelled which results into losses for us.

Kuthoo says if internet blockades continue to be enforced more frequently, their business might as well shutdown. About a 1000 registered travel agents work in this field in Kashmir and many more work in unorganised sector. If net continues to be banned frequently like it has been, we are going to entirely lose our business, he says, adding that they have also brought their concerns over frequent internet bans to the notice of the government but nothing has been done to address their concerns. Of late we feel the government is helpless and least bothered about our losses due to these internet shutdowns, he says. How can we do business when internet is shut down ten times in a week?

Last year, according to a report published in a local daily, out of the 14,000 local youth employed in the IT sector in the Valley, an estimated 7,000 people lost their jobs due to the frequent internet shutdowns imposed after Wanis killing.

The Supreme Court considers internet access a basic right thatgovernment is trampling with every passing day in Kashmir, says advocate Maroof Khan. Here in our state this right is denied every now and then as the government puts a gag on the internet access in the name of security.

The internet works here according to the will and whims of government, says Khan, adding that it isstrangethat the government authorities at times allow internet access in one area and block it in other areas. It has also been observed here that sometimes net is gagged in one district and other district is allowed to have internet access. These frequent internet gag orders border on hooliganism.

How can the government year after year cite security reasons to gag internet? he asks. They wont work towards improving the security scenario here but they will continue to gag internet.

Majid Maqbool is a journalist and editor based inSrinagar, Kashmir.

Categories: Business, e-commerce, Economy, Featured, Government, Politics

Tagged as: Burhan Wani, Internet bans, Internet connectivity, Internet shutdowns, Kashmir internet ban, Kashmir Valley, Kashmir violence, online connectivity, Valley internet ban

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Frequent Internet Bans Are Slowly Choking Kashmir's Online Businesses - The Wire

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Is it time to outsource your content marketing program? - Napa Valley Register

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Why you should learn digital marketing even if you don't want to be a digital marketer - YourStory.com

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Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

PHELAN The California Public Utilities Commission agreed to allow Race Communications to install its fiber-based internet system in the Tri-Community area.

Business owner Kimberly Lombardi, who offered testimony during the CPUC meeting Thursday in San Francisco, told the Daily Press the approval of the Gigafy Phelan project by a 4-1 vote was huge win for the High Desert area.

The scope of the project includes installation of a fiber-to-the-premises system for 7,600 households over 98 square miles in Phelan, Pinon Hills, Oak Hills and Hesperia.

Approval of the resolution awards Race approximately $27.6 million through a grant provided by the California Advanced Services Fund.

Its like Phelan has been given a new hope and a breath of fresh air, said Lombardi, who owns The Pizza Factory in Phelan with her husband, Brian. Weve been battling terrible internet connection by Frontier since April. It was like the whole town was being held hostage.

After Connecticut-based Frontier took over Verizons voice, video, data and FiOS network, customers across the High Desert and throughout California began complaining about a variety of service issues, with some cancelling their service and switching to other providers, the Daily Press reported.

Lombardi, who spoke with the CPUC, said her store lost an estimated $10,000 in sales since the takeover and her shops internet service began failing.

There were times when the whole town was out for days and even an entire week, said Lombardi, who traveled to the Bay Area with nearly a half-dozen residents from the High Desert. Our local tech had to finally come in and fix the problem because Frontier couldnt do it.

Once completed, the Phelan project will be the largest the company has ever completed. Engineering and design work should begin this month, with groundbreaking four to six months after that, Ally Hetland, marketing manager for Race, told the Daily Press.

Based on recent interviews with Race officials, the first customer to receive service from the company should be around the holidays in 2018.

Frontier replied to the Daily Press by saying the "company is disappointed in yesterday's vote," adding that Frontier continues to be dedicated to vital broadband expansion to rural Californians.

No other state is using, or proposing to use, state taxpayer funds to subsidize a second provider to overbuild Frontiers CAF-funded broadband upgrades, said Christy Reap, Frontiers assistant vice president, corporate communications. Frontier will continue to utilize Connect America Funds to bring the life-changing benefits of broadband to our service territories.

Reap said the company hopes the CPUCs vote does not set a precedent of overbuilding by multiple providers, which does not adhere to the FCCs guidelines for use of CAF funds.

We continue to urge California to use state broadband funds for expanding broadband where federal funds and private investment are not available, Reap said.

A split decision by the CPUC last month stalled the Gigafy Phelan project and disappointed several residents from the High Desert who attended the meeting.

According to Race officials, they heard many stories from Tri-Community residents who had and were experiencing substandard internet speeds and poor service.

Over the last two years, Race has filed numerous attempts to deliver fiber optic service to the Phelan region. Frontier Communications submitted an infrastructure grant challenge to the CPUC in April, but it was declared a late-filed challenge by the agency.

Frontiers CAF commitments bring $228 million in federal funds for California broadband expansion and Frontier will continue to engage in further discussion to ensure the CASF program accounts for critical federal funds to help close the Digital Divide in California, Frontier Communications Director of Public Relations JavierMendoza said.

Copies of letters from local and regional leaders who supported Races efforts were obtained by Daily Press. The letters came from Rep. Paul Cook, First District Supervisor Robert Lovingood and Assemblyman Jay Obernolte.

Other letters came from CalFire, the Snowline Joint Unified School District, the Phelan Chamber of Commerce, the Phelan-Pinon Hills Community Service District and other schools.

Cameron Christian, vice president of marketing western region with Frontier, told the Daily Press last year that despite the transition of approximately 3.3 million voice, 2.1 million broadband and 1.2 million FIOS subscribers across three states, We have experienced a small number of requests for assistance from customers in California, and those have been addressed.

Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, RDeLa Cruz@VVDailyPress.com or on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.

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The Race is on for better internet service in some areas of the High Desert - VVdailypress.com