Mobile operators represented by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of United Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) plan to seek government?s intervention on a recent Rajasthan High Court verdict, calling for the removal of mobile towers located in schools and hospitals.
As per the court order, the operators have to remove telecom towers from school and hospital premises in the state by December 31, 2012. The court has passed the orders on the grounds that the installed telecom towers posed potential health hazards to public at large.
Operators plan to approach the government against the order as they fear that, if implemented, the order could set a precedent for other states to come out with similar directions.
COAI and AUSPI will jointly approach the government on the matter. The industry bodies representing GSM and CDMA operators, respectively, are of the view that if implemented the order could lead to disruption in mobile coverage by operators coupled with the operators losing out significantly on the network performance parameters benchmarked by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Both COAI and AUSPI will be writing to Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and IT and also challenge Rajasthan HC verdict in the Supreme Court.
