Cyclone Fani was one of the biggest storms to wreak havoc on the shores of India in the last 20 years. The authorities thankfully well predicted the catastrophe, and thus people were able to draw up measures to prevent extreme loss of life and property. Even then, the effect of Cyclone Fani was so profound that it managed to claim a few lives and even disrupted communication, electricity and other essential elements in regions of Orissa. The Cyclone also brought considerable damage to the networks of telecom operators and disrupted the 3G and 4G availability. OpenSignal compiled a report on the same highlighting the storm’s aftermath and mapping and recovery from its effects.
Six Districts Affected in Orissa Due to Cyclone Fani
The Cyclone made landfall near Puri, a popular tourist destination in Orissa with winds reaching up to 190Km/h in speed. As per the OpenSignal report, the users of mobile network were affected in six districts of Orissa, whereas users in other regions experience largely unchanged levels of mobile network availability. After entering the state through Puri, the Cyclone travelled to Khorda and Cuttack, and then it continued towards West Bengal and Bangladesh. The most substantial impact of the Cyclone was witnessed in the three districts of Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Bhadrak, and the three other districts saw a lesser impact as the Cyclone weakened while moving inland.
Mobile Users in Khorda Experienced Longest Recovery Period of 20 Days
Out of all the six districts where OpenSignal measured the 3G and 4G availability, surprisingly Puri wasn’t the most affected one, but it was the district of Khorda as users there witnessed the largest service drop. While the 3G/4G availability in the district was 92.8% a day before, it dropped down to 63.6% on 4 May after the storm. The users in Khorda also experienced the longest recovery period with mobile services affected for 20 days after the storm hit.
Mobile users in Cuttack also faced similar issues as 3G/4G availability dropped down to 69.5% in the days following the storm, and the region saw an impact on the mobile services for 18 days. In Puri, the 3G and 4G network availability was down to 71.8% at its worst and also the restoration of the network took only 13 days, which was lesser as compared to the other two districts. Even then, OpenSignal noted that its users were able to access mobile data services during the storm and even after it thus pointing out that most damages to the network were localised and services remained available to most of the users.
