Jammu And Kashmir: Mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir were shut down on August 5 (PTI File Photo)
Post-paid mobile services in Kashmir are likely to resume from Saturday, 68 days after they were shut down following the Centre's decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir's special status, officials in Srinagar said on Friday.
They made it clear that subscribers will have to wait for some more time for Internet services to resume in the valley.
The officials said a decision has been taken for post-paid mobile services to be resumed first and the pre-paid services to be resumed later. They have also stressed that a proper verification of customer be undertaken for post-paid mobile services.
The Kashmir valley has nearly 66 lakh mobile subscribers out of which nearly 40 lakh subscribers have post-paid facilities.
The move comes barely two days after the Centre issued an advisory opening the valley for tourists.
Travel association bodies had approached the administration, saying that no tourist would like to come to the valley where no mobile phones working.
The mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir were shut down on August 5 after the Centre announced in New Delhi the scrapping of special status guaranteed to the state under Article 370 of the Constitution.
Partial fixed line telephony was resumed in the valley on August 17, and by September 4 all landlines, numbering nearly 50,000, were declared operational.
In Jammu, the communication system was restored within days of the blockade and even mobile Internet was started around mid-August. However, after its misuse, the Internet facility on cellular phones was snapped on August 18.