The government has issued guidelines to look into the issue related to installation of mobile phone towers at and near airports. To this end, applications seeking approvals pending with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Joint Communications and Electronic Staff (JCES) shall be deemed cleared from now if they are not considered within 30 days from the date of filing.
Reportedly, a copy of the letter was also marked to the chief secretaries of the states and union territories where such approvals are pending and the secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Earlier, the government had launched measures to simplify the process of clearance by the Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations (SACFA) for the installation of telecom towers, including self-declaration based, in an automated time-bound approvals. As per norms, every telecom operator requires approval from the SACFA on the height and location of any tower it plans to install anywhere. Also, both AAI and JCES are members of the SACFA.
In addition, during 2015 the AAI added 121 (now 97) non-licensed state-government-controlled airports to the protection list. However, this move did not prove to be efficient as they are showing their inability to process the cases pending with it related to these airports. The delay in getting approvals is severely affecting the rollout and expansion of telecom networks, and it is affecting the proliferation of broadband, especially in rural and underserved areas.
