As per Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), mobile tower installations have reached only 60 per cent of the intended target of 100,000 towers annually. This is mainly due to delay in permissions from local authorities and other structural issues.
COAI has requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to review service quality norms and address the structural issues at the earliest. The biggest impediment has been lack of crucial installation permissions, as per the industry body.
As per COAI, the recent initiative taken by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of bringing various stakeholders together to resolve outstanding issues, could be replicated and amplified in various states to address issues of cell tower locations, charges and timely permissions.
