Cell Phone Services in Leh

Can one use cell phone in Leh? This is a question that often pops up on various India travel forums. Jammu and Kashmir (Leh is a part of J&K) went mobile with BSNL in the year 2003 with quite unintended benefits for beggers!

Jammu, Aug. 20 (2003): Beggars have benefited the most from the cellular phone service launch in Jammu and Kashmir. There were many beggars queuing up for Cell One application forms being distributed at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited counters here. They had been roped in as proxies by shopkeepers and those who could not bear to queue up for hours to obtain forms. The beggars received Rs 10 and Rs 15 for every form they obtained. The forms are free. “The last two days were good. I hope it will be the same tomorrow,” Shashi Kumar, one of the beggars who stood proxy for others, said. He regretted that it was a holiday today.

Initially BSNL launched post paid services only. I tried hard to find out if BSNL has extended prepaid or roaming facility to the region but could not find any definite information.

Then I could find news itmes that talk about Airtel entering Jammu and Kashmir and Leh.

NEW DELHI (Feb 09, 2006): Mobile phone service provider Airtel has erected the highest GSM tower in Leh region in Jammu and Kashmir. Standing at a height of 11,645 feet, the tower is located at the historic Qutak Gompa. With this, Airtel also becomes the only private mobile operator to launch services in the high altitude region of Leh in the state. This site connects Leh with Airtel's four cell sites at Chuglamsar, Stok, Skerzling, and Qutak Gompa.

But I am yet not sure that an Airtel cellphone with a say Delhi number would work in Leh or not. My guess is that roaming is still not available in J&K and Leh. So we do meet monks with a cell phone in Leh (2005) but our cell phones are most likely to go silent there even now.

But there are some for whom having a connectivity in Leh was not a problem even in 2004. Farhan Akhtar (Director of movie Lakshya) has following to say in a rediff article.

How did it feel being away from your cell phone?

Cell phones don't work in Ladakh. The only person who had a phone was Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan who I think carried a satellite phone. On one level, not having cell phones helped the whole unit come together, because you only had each other for company. So people would spend more time with each other than sitting in their rooms telling people how much they love them and miss them!

Cell phones have definitely reached Leh but it is not certain that an ordinary prepaid connection from BSNL or Airtel will go on roaming in the region.

PS. I have used the picture of the monks before on my blog.