Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s call to telecom operators to seriously address the issue of frequent call drops comes not a day too soon. The falling standards of quality of service across India’s mobile networks point to a major flaw in the way communications infrastructure has been rolled out over the past decade. While the focus until now has been to rapidly reach a billion users by offering the lowest tariffs, due attention has not been given to the quality of services being offered. Even a cursory look at the TRAI’s quality of service norms and the department of telecom’s rollout obligation for mobile operators shows that not enough safeguards are in place to ensure that users get a trouble-free experience. In addition, regulatory challenges at the State level in getting right of way clearances and approvals for setting up core elements of a communications network such as optical fibre cable networks and mobile towers, have hampered the creation of infrastructure that is capable of delivering high quality services. As a result there are regions in urban centres where telecom companies have been unable to get enough tower sites and are forced to operate with just 60-70 per cent of the towers required to offer optimum services. In this context, Prasad’s initiative to talk with other ministries to allow government buildings to be used for telecom infrastructure has merit. This needs to be taken up by State governments as well. Allowing telcos to use the massive network of government infrastructure to set up towers will be a big step forward in addressing the tower density issue.
The situation needs to change drastically — and quickly — if the Centre does not want its Digital India dream to unravel. If consumers have to reap the benefits of bandwidth guzzling services such as video streaming, education, healthcare, money transfer and e-governance, telecom networks have to be robust enough to carry terabytes of data. This can happen only if operators are allowed to roll out enough mobile towers and optical fibre cables.
To facilitate this, a few things must be done immediately. First, all State governments must be told to implement the guidelines issued by the telecom department in 2013 for handing out clearances for the installation of mobile towers. Currently, there is no standard process for getting clearances and it is left to the whims of different municipalities. DoT’s guidelines specify a uniform fee and single-window clearance. They also spell out the permissible height and radiation levels for towers, depending on location. Also, provisions should be made in building rules to incorporate telecom infrastructure as an essential component, the same way as water and electricity supply is. This will ensure that facilities like ducting and cabling for telecom services become part of buildings at the design stage itself. Finally, the Centre and TRAI should revamp the rollout obligation and quality of services norms to ensure there is no compromise on offering a ubiquitous communications network where calls don’t drop and broadband is available on demand.