The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to establish rules under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 to prevent illegal sales of signal boosters and jammers on e-commerce platforms, which are negatively impacting subscriber experience and causing issues with quality of service (QoS) for mobile users.
This comes against the backdrop of recent incidents in some states concerning the the installation of illegal jammers to halt mobile network signals for unexplained reasons which are adversely affecting the Quality of Service (QoS) for mobile users.
The association has also requested directions from DoT to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), that jammers should be deployed only in consonance with the relevant guidelines issued by the Cabinet Secretariat. COAI also suggested penalties for online platforms selling illegal repeaters and jammers.
Chapter IX, clause 42 (3), Chapter IX, clause 42 (7), Chapter IX, clause 43, and Chapter X, clause 48 under the Telecom Act deal with the possession and usage of such equipment.
