Telecom Industry Alerts Public Against Frauds Relating to Mobile Tower Installation

The telecom industry, represented by DIPA and COAI, the apex representative bodies of telecom infrastructure providers and telecom service providers respectively, have cautioned the public against the fraud related to the installation of mobile towers on their properties.

The public is cautioned against certain companies, agencies, or individuals who are fraudulently approaching people and asking them to deposit money in their personal or company accounts in the name of government tax for leasing their premises for installation of mobile towers. The same individuals are additionally offering fake “No Objection Certificates” from the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology for the installation of towers.

Mobile towers are installed either by Telecom Service Providers (TSP) or Infrastructure Providers (IPs). People are requested to verify authenticity by visiting the websites of TSPs or IPs before accepting any offers for tower installation.

Mr. T R Dua, DG, DIPA, said, “The mobile towers are installed by the Telecom Infrastructure providers like Indus Towers, American Tower Corporation, Summit Digital Infrastructure, Ascend Telecom, Tower Vision. IPs are taking several steps to caution the public about the frauds and have devised various modes to collect the information about potential locations through various channels such as toll-free number, website, e-mail etc. Besides this, as a responsible association, DIPA has also been publishing public notice in newspapers for alerting public about the tower frauds.”

"Mobile towers are quintessential to ensure uninterrupted connectivity, support various critical services and maintain communication across the states. The public suffers gravely owing to the fraud related to mobile towers. This is causing a trust deficit and a sense of insecurity towards the team personnel working on the ground to build robust communication network. The telecom industry remains committed to providing the best quality of services to its customers. Hence, we have collaborated with DIPA to build the required robust infrastructure. Also, we are issuing notices on various platforms to ensure that consumers are aware of these fraudulent practices." said Lt Gen SP Kochhar, Director-General, COAI.