The Indian government has restored limited broadband service to the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, and 2G mobile coverage in parts of Hindu-majority Jammu after five months, reports BBC.
Internet services were suspended across the region on 4 August, a move that was deemed by the government necessary to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, Indian media outlet NDTV reports that as per the order issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department, the Kashmir division will establish an additional 400 internet kiosks.
"Internet service providers (ISP - BSNL/private service providers) to provide broadband facility (with (Mac-binding) to all the institutions dealing with essential services, hospitals, banks, etc. and also government offices and in order to facilitate tourism, to hotels, and tour and travel establishments," the order read.
"Prior to giving such facility, the ISPs shall install necessary firewalls and carry out white-listing of sites that would enable access to government websites and websites dealing with essential services including e-banking, excluding, however, all the social media sites," the order read.
"The aforesaid directions shall be effective from January 15, 2020, and remain in force for a period of seven days, unless modified earlier. These shall supersede all the orders earlier issued on the subject," it added.
The order said that the institutions and government offices being provided internet access will be responsible to prevent any misuse.
"While the mobile internet activity of all kinds has been suspended in Jammu and Kashmir. However, internet through fixed-line broadband facility exists in Jammu division while in Kashmir division, to facilitate the general public and students," it said.
The Kashmir valley is the site of a long-running insurgency against Indian rule. A security crackdown and restrictions on communications were among measures imposed as India revoked the region's semi-autonomous status and split it into two federally-administered territories.
The government said the internet could be used to spread disinformation and allow militant groups to plan attacks.
But critics called the shutdown - the longest ever in any democracy - undemocratic and draconian.
The chief US diplomat for South Asia affairs, Alice Wells, is among those who have expressed concern.
"We remain concerned by detention of political leaders and residents, and internet restrictions. We look forward to a return to normalcy," she tweeted on Saturday, days after India arranged a tour of the region for some diplomats.
The communications blackout, which also initially included phone services, has badly hit the region's economy. Many businesses are struggling to operate.
According to the BBC, the government notice explicitly stated that access to social media sites or "peer-to-peer" messaging services like WhatsApp would not be restored.
Furthermore, internet service providers will be expected to install firewalls to prevent access to sites other than specific "white-listed" ones such as government websites.
India's Supreme Court last week ordered a review of the communications restrictions in place in Kashmir.
This, the court said, should be done within a week. "Suspension of free movement, internet and basic freedoms cannot be an arbitrary exercise of power," it said in its order.
Some mobile phone and landline services were restored in October, but the indefinite internet suspension has crippled daily life, the media and businesses.
The move in August by India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to revoke the region's autonomy was controversial as the "special status" Kashmir enjoyed underpinned its fraught relationship with Delhi.