Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has said that mobile tower installations have reached only 60% of intended target of 1,00,000 towers annually, mainly on account delay in permission from local authorities and other structural issues. COAI also said it is reasonable for regulator Trai to review service quality norms, especially at a time when technology is changing dramatically, but added that policy or regulatory actions need to be curative rather than penal.
COAI’s Director General, Rajan Mathews said ‘we expect that in any particular year there will be 1,00,000 mobile tower installations. But at the last count, it has reached 50,000 or 60,000 towers.’ He said the big impediment has been lack of crucial installation permissions. He asserted that customers' grouse on mobile service quality and call drops also need to be viewed in the backdrop of structural issues and infrastructural bottlenecks faced by operators.
He added that the recent initiative of Department of Telecom (DoT) to bring together various stakeholders, including MCD Commissioners in Delhi to resolve outstanding issues, is an approach that should be replicated and amplified in various states. Overall, he noted structural issues need to be identified and addressed at the earliest.