60 villages in Meghalaya's Ri Bhoi slam Airtel over poor network, urge CM’s intervention

Guwahati, July 15: Thirty-two residents representing over 60 villages in Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi district have written to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, expressing deep frustration over Bharti Airtel’s “erratic and prolonged” network outages in the remote northern region of the district.

The letter, submitted this week, alleges that Bharti Airtel, entrusted with expanding mobile connectivity under the Centre’s Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), has consistently failed to provide reliable service in the tribal-dominated belt.

Villagers claimed that despite receiving government support, the telecom major has left them cut off from essential services, emergency communications, and financial transactions.

“As a result, the villagers, who are mostly poor tribal pre-paid users, remain cut off… causing immense hardship,” the letter read.

The complainants also noted that multiple complaints had already been lodged via the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and to Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, but no corrective action had followed.

Despite persistent outages lasting several hours, Airtel reportedly continues to collect full advance payments from users in these villages.

“Bharti Airtel shamelessly continues to collect full payments… without offering any extension of validity or compensation,” the residents alleged.

In their appeal, the villagers urged the Chief Minister to take up the issue with the top management of Airtel and to ensure the following:

• Airtel is held accountable for its poor service in the region
• The Department of Telecommunications conducts an urgent technical audit
• Alternative service providers are considered if Airtel fails to meet its obligations
• Affected users are compensated for the outages and inconvenience

Calling Airtel’s conduct both negligent and exploitative, the residents stressed that the issue affects the digital inclusion of already marginalised tribal communities in the state.

“This issue directly impacts the welfare and digital inclusion of a large tribal population. We hope the state government will take up this matter seriously and ensure timely redressal,” the letter concluded.

At the time of filing this report, the company has not issued any official response regarding the matter.

An image of the letter sent to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma by Ri-Bhoi residents (AT Photo)