Page 295 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2024
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Innovation and Digital Transformation for a Sustainable World




           ensure  network  continuity,  for  this  diverse  backup  power   made  landfall  and  caused  extensive  flooding  and  erosion.
           solutions, including generators, batteries, and fuel cells [6]   However,  there  were  no  reports  of  damage  of  submarine
           are crucial. These systems should support critical network   cables.  The  Government  Agencies  including  Telecom
           elements such as base stations, switching centers, and data   Department and Disaster Management Authorities utilized a
           centers for extended periods. However, cyclones also pose   robust early warning system called Common Alert Protocol
           significant challenges to fuel supply chains, often damaging   (CAP) ‘SACHET’ (as per ITU-T Recommendation X.1303)
           roads, ports, and storage facilities. This disruption can hinder   to disseminate timely updates about the approaching cyclone
           the replenishment of fuel for generators, potentially leading   to  concerned  citizens  in  the  region  and  severity  specific
           to network failures if backup power is exhausted.    manner. Over a period of 1 week during the cyclone, more
                                                              than 30 million early warning SMSs were disseminated in
           3.3   Rapid  damage  assessment  and  restoration   the regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat & Dadra Nagar Haveli
                 capabilities                                 and Daman-Diu regions, ensuring that the public was well-
           In the aftermath of a cyclone disaster, the ability to rapidly   informed  about  the  impending  cyclone  and  could  take
           assess  the  extent  of  damage  to  telecommunications   necessary precautions [8].
           infrastructure  and  initiate  restoration  efforts  is  critical  for
           minimizing the duration and impact of service disruptions.   4.2   Analysis  of  the  telecom  sector's  response  and
           In  such  disaster  affected  regions  specialized  disaster   recovery efforts
           recovery  teams  and  equipments,  are  necessary  to  enable   In response to Cyclone Biparjoy, the Government agencies
           rapid  deployment  and  restoration  of  services  in  affected   took  proactive  measures  to  mitigate  the  impact  on
           areas.                                             telecommunications  infrastructure  and  ensure  effective
                                                              communication  during  the  disaster.  The  Central  agencies
           3.4   Interoperability and coordination with emergency   conducted  timely  preparatory  meetings  with  Telecom
                 management agencies                          Service Providers (TSPs), the State Government agencies,
           Effective  coordination  and  interoperability  between   and power companies   in advance to assess the preparation
           telecommunications  providers  and  disaster  management   in view of approaching cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ and the steps to
           agencies are essential for ensuring a coherent and efficient   be  taken  based  on  the  Standard  operating  procedure  of
           response to cyclone disasters. This includes the provisioning   Telecom Department [9].
           of priority communication channels for emergency services,   The  TSPs  were  advised  to  perform  a  thorough  risk
           the  sharing  of  network  status  information  and  damage   assessment  of  their  network  infrastructure,  identify
           assessments, and the coordination of restoration efforts to   vulnerable  areas,  and  develop  mitigation  plans  in
           avoid  duplication  and  optimize  resource  allocation.   consonance with the standard operating procedure SOP also
           Additionally,  cyclone  restricts  movements  of  restoration   specifies to evaluate the structural integrity of cell towers,
           teams, which also require support of first responders.    equipment  shelters,  and  other  critical  infrastructure
                                                              components,  as  well  as  identify  low-lying  areas  prone  to
           3.5   Regulatory and policy considerations         flooding  and  develop  plans  to  safeguard  against  water
           Building  resilient  telecommunications  infrastructure  also   damage. TSPs were also advised to assess the backup power
           requires an enabling regulatory and policy environment that   supplies to sustain uninterrupted operations for an extended
           supports  the  investment,  innovation,  and  collaboration   period.
           necessary for enhancing network resilience.        Disaster management requires a multi-organization approach,
                                                              and in telecom sector this requirement gets multi-fold. As
             4.  CASE  STUDY:  CYCLONE  BIPARJOY  (JUNE       telecom  infrastructure  heavily  relies  upon  power,  fuel
                 2023)                                        availability and movement of restoration team depends on
                                                              local administration. To facilitate the restoration of telecom
           4.1   Overview of Cyclone Biparjoy and its impact on   services,   Inter-Agencies   coordination   channel   was
                 telecommunications infrastructure            established, single point of contacts (SPOC) was appointed
           Cyclone  Biparjoy  was  a  severe  cyclonic  storm  that  made   in all the agencies to streamline coordination efforts
           landfall along the coast of Gujarat, India, on June 15, 2023.   Few significant steps taken by the Telecom Department were
           With maximum sustained winds of 150 km/h and a central   the activation of Intra-circle roaming (ICR) among all TSPs
           pressure of 970 hPa, Biparjoy caused widespread damage to   before the landfall of the cyclone. ICR was introduced from
           infrastructure,  including  telecommunications  networks,   June  14,  2023,  at  0800  hours  and  was  extended  until  the
           across the affected region [7]. The cyclone's strong winds   telecom  restoration  was  completed,  facilitating  network
           and heavy rainfall led to the damage of mobile towers fiber   resilience during the disaster. This ensured that subscribers
           optic  cables,  and  disruption  of  power  supply  to  telecom   could access telecom services even if their primary service
           facilities.  Resulting  to  the  outages  of  around  600-700   provider's network was disrupted [8]. Additionally, to boost
           telecom  towers  which  affected  millions  of  people  in  the   the  network  availability  to  first  responders,  220  numbers
           coastal districts of Gujarat, hindering their ability to access   were  assigned  Priority  Call  Routing,  with  multi-level
           emergency  services,  receive  critical  information,  and   precedence and pre-emption services (eMLPP) having seven
           establish connection [8]. The impact on telecommunications   priority levels [8, 10]. To create awareness about the ICR
           infrastructure  was  particularly  severe  in  coastal  districts,   facility  and  its  benefits  during  the  cyclone,  the  Telecom
           such as Kutch, Jamnagar, and Porbandar, where the cyclone   Department  conducted  a  large-scale  media  campaign





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