Ensuring Cellular Networks Are Not Affected by the Cianjur Earthquake

A shop in the city center of Cianjur was damaged by an earthquake in Cianjur Regency, West Java (ANTARA/Ahmad Fikri/aa)

JAKARTA - Cellular operators are continuing their efforts to restore telecommunications networks after the earthquake centered in Cianjur Regency, West Java.

Director of Network Operations Smartfren Agus Rohmat said their network condition was safe even though there were about 2 sites that died due to power outages.

"Currently, the Smartren network is in a safe condition and customers can still communicate", Agus said, Monday, November 21, as reported by Antara.

Smartfren has 152 telecommunication towers around Cianjur. According to Agus, the affected site did not suffer any damage and they are currently working on the problem.

Contacted separately, cellular operator XL Axiata said that some of their telecommunication towers were affected by power outages, however, the telecommunication network remained on.

"We have ensured that the XL Axiata network in the Cianjur area and surrounding cities/regencies are still maintained and operational", said XL Axiata's Head of Corporate Communications Retno Wulan to ANTARA.

The cellular operator deployed a team to restore telecommunications towers and use generators for power supply.

"In addition, from the network monitoring center, XL Axiata has carried out network engineering so that services in these areas can still serve customers optimally", said XL Axiata.

An earthquake measuring 5.6 shook the southwest region of Cianjur Regency at around 13.30 WIB. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 10 kilometers.

The tremors of the earthquake were felt as far as Jakarta and its surroundings.