Cross border cell phone signals – AirTel removes some towers

This story caught our eye because we’ve experienced something very similar in Lahore. If you are in the Bedian, Mughalpura, Harbanspura or other areas close to the border with India, you will find that your GSM cell phone will pick up at least a couple of Indian cell phone networks! In particular, AirTel seems to be the one with the best chances of connecting. We experimented with a phone configured for global roam, and sure enough, AirTel actually works for both voice and GPRS data. Now, at least across the LoC, AirTel has decided to remove 10 cell phone towers to avoid this loophole.

Pretty interesting when seen within the conventional context of “Secure communications”. It is technically possible for someone to be in Pakistan when they are actually in India and vice versa. Moreover, any attempts to “introspect” voice or data communications done in this “over the border” manner will also not work.

Here’s the story:

Airtel removes ten towers near LoC NEW DELHI (December 27 2007): The leading Indian mobile service provider, Airtel has removed ten mobile towers situated within ten kilometers of Line of Control and working boundary in Jammu region of occupied Kashmir.

Media reports quoting Chief Operating Officer, Jammu and Kashmir Circle of the company Vishal Sehgal said in Jammu on Wednesday “as per the regulations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Airtel has removed 10 mobile towers near LoC in Jammu and Kashmir without affecting the mobile services in the rural areas close to the LoC.”

Referring to company’s policy to provide sim cards in occupied Kashmir, he said that strict check of the applications were conducted besides monthly audit of all sim records by the Vigilance Monitoring Officer as a security measure. He said his company has 1,100 mobile towers in occupied Kashmir and it covers 20 districts out of 22 districts. The signals of Indian service providers were crossing into Azad Kashmir and working boundary in Sialkot region, the sources said here.