Call drops: Telcos want towers on defence land

KOLKATA: The telecom industry's battle to reduce call drops has extended to another front. Mobile carriers and tower operators have sought the telecom department's immediate intervention to persuade the armed forces to allow towers on defence land across India for boosting mobile coverage in India's biggest cities, said two people aware of the matter.
The defence ministry is one of the biggest holders of prime real estate in India and a significant chunk of such land is located in the heart of key cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Bhopal, Gwalior, Lucknow, Jaipur, Shillong and Leh.
In an internal note to DoT, mobile operators, cutting across GSM and CDMA technology platforms, and tower infrastructure providers said defence agencies haven't been issuing approvals for towers in many cities, compounding the call drop problem.
A top executive of a leading GSM carrier said call drops had worsened in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Lucknow and Gwalior in particular owing to delays in setting up towers in cantonment areas.
"Provision of defence land in big cities to telecom licensees is important for installation of mobile towers but prolonged delays in approvals from defence agencies/establishments is leading to poor mobile and broadband coverage," hindering industry efforts to reduce call drops, three telecom lobby groups said in a joint letter to DoT that ET has reviewed.
The letter is from the Cellular Operators Association of India, representing GSM carriers, the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), representing CDMA and dual-tech operators, and Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), representing tower infrastructure providers.
They have urged DoT to persuade the defence ministry to initially speed up approvals for mobile towers in Navy Nagar in Mumbai and cantonment zones in Delhi, Pune, Lucknow, Gwalior, Jaipur and Leh.
The industry has also called for an early overhaul of the defence ministry's 2008 policy on installation of towers. "The current policy is cumbersome and requires separate follow-ups with multiple divisions," said another executive at a leading GSM carrier aware of the matter. The armed forces, he said, should ideally introduce a transparent tendering exercise to lease land to telecom companies for towers.
Telecom companies and DoT have lately been on a collision course ever since the Narendra Modi government made call drops a priority and even suggested penalties for telcos that can't remedy the situation.
However, at the instance of the Prime Minister's Office, DoT recently urged the urban development and health ministries to enable mobile carriers to set up towers on government land and buildings and in hospitals across India for beefing up mobile coverage. "We hope DoT will also persuade the defence ministry to come up with a simple policy for issuing approvals to telecom licensees for setting up towers to ensure contiguous mobile coverage, and in turn, reduce call drops," said the first person cited above.