Telecom operators ask MCD to deseal mobile towers having valid nods

KOLKATA: Telecom operators have asked the three municipal corporations of Delhi to halt sealing of mobile towers within two days as it flouts a restraining court order. In a joint letter to the civic bodies, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi) said the corporations had already sealed more than 70 telecom towers and were continuing to seal more, regardless of a Delhi High Court direction, dated August 28, that restrains them from doing so.

The COAI is the trade body representing GSM carriers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, while Auspi represents CDMA and dual technology operators such as Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices. Both lobby groups have exhorted the municipal corporations to immediately “de-seal the towers within the next two days”. They have categorically urged the municipal bodies to “refrain from taking any further coercive steps” such as tower sealing, demolition or snapping electricity at other towers, till the appeals pending before the relevant Delhi High Court division bench are heard and decided on.

Mobile carriers and tower operators believe civic bodies like municipal corporations are largely to blame for call drops, as they have made the process of setting up towers exorbitant. So much so, they have accused the municipal bodies of literally indulging in extortion, by demanding between.`50,000 and .`5 lakh for issuing no-objection certificates to install a single mobile tower. The telcos also blame the challenges they face in installing towers for the call drop problem.