Call drops, campaign against towers don’t go together: Prasad

Telecommunication and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday asked telecom operators to reinforce their system to address the issue of call drops even as he allayed public apprehensions over the harmful effects of installing mobile towers at residential areas

Decrying a campaign against erection of telecom towers as misleading, the minister said such demands cannot go along with the allegations of call drops.

"I have already spoken publicly about this campaign on the tower issue and I want to repeat that there is no tangible evidence of any harmful effect. Therefore, call drop allegations and campaign against tower installation cannot go hand in hand," he said.

Prasad asked telecom operators to reinforce their systems to address the perennial issue of call drops. He also called upon the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to come up with a distinctive mechanism to tackle the problem.

He said since operators have mopped up enough spectrum to expand operations and have enough spectrum to provide uninterrupted services, they should also reinforce their systems to make sure that customers are provided with the uninterrupted services.

"The point is, as of now, let me tell you as a minister that I would like all the telecom operators to reinforce their system, to avoid call drops, to properly run their operations. Once we are willing to walk the extra mile, they also walk the extra mile," Prasad stated in an interview with PTI.

He said the spectrum to auction in March was the biggest and since there were not enough takers, some of these remained unsold. The argument given by operators that not enough spectrum is available with them does not hold now, he added.

"...this argument I don't appreciate, enough spectrum is available, what is important for them is to reinforce...call drop issue needs to be addressed by the operators, whether BSNL or private ones because consumers want no call drops. Now I would appreciate if telecom operators earnestly addressed this problem," he said.

Stating that the government is willing to address any concerns of the telecom sector, the minister said, the industry should also improve its services.

Prasad said the Department of Telecom (DoT) will soon meet stakeholders to revise the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the sector and the final decision will be taken once the recommendations are finalised.

"A committee headed by Telecom Secretary is working on it. They have had a lot of meetings with stakeholders. Let them finalise their whole recommendations then we will take a call. Time is not the factor at all, if there is need for immediate pushing, surely we will do it. I shall be very frank with you," Prasad was quoted as saying in the interview.

On further auction of spectrum, Prasad stated that the moment the radiowaves in 3G band are released, the process for auction will be expedited, adding that the government may look into the auction again in this financial year.

''The moment it comes, it will be expedited and obliviously as I said the March auction was not the last auction of this government.