Telcos call for uniform laws for towers to tackle call drops

NEW DELHI: Telecom operators of India led by their CEOs, including Bharti Airtel's Gopal Vittal, Vodafone's Sunil Sood and Idea Cellular's Himanshu Kapania, came under one roof today to voice their concerns over call drops and lack of cell sites, and called for uniform laws for towers and right of way (RoW) to cope up with the issue.

The telcos highlighted that roadblocks in installation of cell sites and arbitrary shutting down of operational ones is leading to network congestion and spotty coverage, resulting in call drops.

The telcos were also joined by industry associations COAI, AUSPI and TAIPA.

"Over 10,000 cell sites have been made non-operational due to some of these reasons, across major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Patna, Jaipur, etc. This is in stark contrast to the requirements of the industry for enabling a digital economy, wherein at least 1,00,000 Cell Sites need to be put up in the next couple of years," said BS Shantharaju, CEO, Indus Towers.

The industry cited several challenges faced in installing mobile infrastructure due to reasons varying from State bodies’ actions against towers without prior notices; restrictions imposed by municipalities coupled with sealing orders being issued; power supply issues; difficulties in getting clearances for installing sites; non-renewal of lease due to reasons such as EMF related misconceptions; fibre cuts due to other infrastructure projects.

"We have requested individuals, households not to follow the supersition (that radiation from cell sites are harmful) and not to shut down towers. We have also requested Municipalities and other government bodies for implementing an uniform policy, so that more towers come. Unless more towers come, problems of call drops and other issues faced by customers will always happen," said Sood.

Meanwhile, Vittal said: "We have made massive investment in this industry and will not shy away from making investment further. For us the real challenge is to improve the quality of services so that is why we are here today."

Mobile networks in cities like Chandigarh, Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and North-East have got deteriorated by limited and restricted network and infrastructure presence.

The industry reaffirmed its commitment to realize the Government’s vision of Digital India, but requested support towards addressing the challenges it is facing in setting up mobile infrastructure, a prerequisite for a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.