With Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warning telecom operators to ensure that ‘call drops’ stop, the association of cellular operators hit back on Monday saying that “delayed clearances” for installation of
more cellular towers were the reason for the phenomenon.
“Getting the clearances for mobile
towers is the problem. It takes 9-10 months to get clearances. The
centre takes about six months and three months are taken by local
authorities,” Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director
General Rajan S Mathews told media here.
He noted out that against the
requirement of one lakh telecom towers, only 20,000 to 25,000 towers had
been installed in the last two years.
Mathews also said that increased data
usage by subscribers, who are using the same infrastructure for data
connectivity, was also adding to the call drop problem, and that
cellular operators were trying their best to install more mobile towers
to reduce call drops.
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