 "Towering problem for telcos")
Yet another missive — this time from the additional DM of Kanpur Nagar — asked telcos and infrastructure providers to remove all rooftop towers and replace these with ground-based towers to “protect against a possible natural calamity”. The absurdity of the assumptions made by local authorities does not end here.
Take for example a letter from the DM in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh. The letter dated May 17 this year cites provisions in the Disaster Management Act, under which authorities can arrest executives of telecom companies if there is disruption of services during any calamity.
Being a telecom operator in India is tough, indeed. While operators are expected to provide flawless voice and data services across the length and breadth of the country, state governments and local bodies routinely issue such orders for shutting down of mobile towers, failing which penal action is threatened. Telco executives say they have learnt to live with this reality, but are concerned about the frequency of such absurd communication increasing rapidly because of the ignorance at the grassroots.
Telcos cite a letter by the member-secretary of Puducherry Planning Authority, asking them to “deactivate the signals immediately from transmission towers within 2,500-metre radius from the periphery of the Central Prison, Kalapet.” The letter followed information that convicts had damaged jammers inside the prison, which could help some of them use mobile phones from inside the prison.
Each time local authorities shoot off such letters, industry bodies like the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of United Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) undertake the cumbersome process of explaining to the state governments why shutting down internet services indiscriminately would affect the local population. Rajan Mathews, director general of COAI, says: “We are astounded by the actions taken by local municipalities and governments without any coordination with the Department of Telecommunications. Asking the industry to shut down towers and services puts both customers and operators at risk.”
For long, telecom operators, who have been facing flak for call drops, have claimed that getting cell sites has increasingly becoming difficult as local authorities along with the public at large are averse to giving permissions to set up cell sites, which are needed if consumers want to access mobile services.
In Chandigarh, for instance, telcos are not allowed to put up towers in residential areas but only on streets and roundabouts.
This has made things difficult as the population density in residential areas is high and absence of towers in these parts impacts service quality, says a senior executive of a telecom service provider. In time, the chant against mobile towers has only accelerated.
All this is despite the fact that the industry had been given infrastructure status in 2013 and the Department of Telecommunications has come out with guidelines for state governments on installation of mobile towers.
OPERATORS' DILEMMA
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June 17, 2016: Kanpur
District magistrate (DM) seeks shifting of rooftop towers to ground level to prevent accidents involving force majeure events; operators asked not to install towers on terraces of any building
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May 17, 2016: Gonda
DM in a letter threatens to send executives to jail for disruption in services, call drops and network issues; letter claims provision of sending jail is laid down in the Disaster Management Act
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Feb 10, 2014: Puducherry
DM orders shutting down of all towers in the radius of 2.5 km around the Kalapet Central Prison so that inmates cannot access mobile services
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June 2016: Gujarat
District magistrates ask telecom operators to stop mobile internet services for a month in the state to prevent cheating by students
