https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/farmers-protest-teleco...
Yes some towers are shared, but that would be irrelevant if the targets of vandalism weren't. No other carrier other than Jio and Reliance have made a large noise about damages to their infrastructure. This makes me believe that the other carriers were not affected.
In any case the farmer protests have distanced themselves from such acts of vandalism and openly criticized them.
> No cell tower == no cell service == no internet.
Are you implying that this internet shutdown in Delhi protest area has nothing to do with Government Orders?
It's no cheap to replace a tower and someone has to pay up. The Govt has declined to pay for the tower. The protestors have blamed it on some rouge elements that infiltrated the protest. Some towers were managed by ZTE or some related Chinese entity that is also stuck in a limbo due to the Chinese ban and now they are seeking compensation for damaged towers as a way to recoupe their investments. Which is another reason why Govt wants to break this trend of paying for towers damaged by the protesters.
Ofcourse, none of this news can be authenticated. There are also claims that cell service was blocked in Delhi for the protestors as retaliation for destroying the towers in Punjab by the protestors. As the towers damaged in Delhi seems to collateral to the protest commotions rather than targeted attacks and less in numbers.
Even then, there are Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone (?) & some others too. Not every tower is shared. & private property damaged by any mob is I think never paid by government (that would take like million years). Most of this is insured.
I still believe that this was just a blackout ordered by Government. Same way it has ordered porn sites ban, & many other blackouts. I remember in 2018 my district in Punjab was blacked out of any network for 3 days, & when we drove across Satluj to Ludhiana, all networks were fine.
No cell tower == no cell service == no internet.