Ahmedabad: As residents waded through flooded streets, many found that GPS, messages and calls could not be relied upon. Mobile connectivity has remained erratic across parts of Gujarat since heavy rain inundated telecom installations. Operators have sent teams to damaged sites, but waterlogged installations and blocked access are slowing repairs.Residents using Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio reported similar problems. In several districts, phones repeatedly slipped from 4G or 5G to Edge, making calls unreliable and mobile data nearly unusable.Haresh Acharya, a resident of Sentossa Park Society in Ambli, said flooding had already disrupted life at home when patchy mobile service compounded the difficulties.
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“Internet speed remained poor, though signals improved from Saturday afternoon, while electricity supply was still badly affected,” he said.Vejalpur resident Shailee Bhatt said the network was patchy on Thursday night and Friday. “As we struggled to get home through flooded roads, GPS and messaging services failed,” she said.Industry sources attributed the breakdown to flooded towers operating at reduced capacity or going offline. Power failures added to the strain. Diesel generators intended to support towers during outages were inaccessible or had stopped working at some flooded sites.Telecom companies are pumping out water, restoring sites and power, and trying to restart generators where grid electricity is unavailable. However, standing water continues to prevent engineers from reaching some installations.An industry source said services should improve as floodwaters recede and electricity supply stabilises. With field teams deployed, connectivity was expected to stabilise by Sunday evening.The outage has affected homes, businesses, and emergency communications across several rain-hit areas. Many residents are using Wi-Fi wherever available while waiting for reliable mobile service to return.
