New Delhi: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Monday said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has assured the telecom operators of its full support in maintaining the network uptime and the quality of service.
In a statement, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said that in a meeting on Monday, between the DoT Secretary, senior members of the DoT and Director General, COAI, the continued preparedness of the industry to meet the requirements of citizens and customers during the continued period of the quarantine, were discussed.
“In taking stock of the performance of the networks over the past weeks of the quarantine, a note was taken of the substantial support provided by the DoT to the industry to meet the challenges of the increased traffic load on the networks and the logistical issues involved in maintaining the uptime of the networks.
“The industry appreciates the close working relationships and timely actions by the DoT and the Secretary Anshu Prakash, in addressing the critical issues of the industry during this unique period in the history of the nation,” he said.
In the meeting, the DoT also assured the industry that additional issues like the request for dynamic IP addresses, additional backhaul spectrum, additional relaxation in filing compliance requirements due to the extension of the quarantine period, clearance of pending network Equipment Type Approvals (ETA), SIM activations, among others would be reviewed and decisions taken expeditiously to address the concerns of the industry.
“COAI wishes to categorically dismiss any concerns that may have been reported, suggesting risks to the networks as a result of delays in meeting industry requests to the DoT,” Mathews added.
In the meeting, DoT noted that as a result of the close working between the DoT and industry, the quantity of “faulty” base transceiver stations (BTS) were brought down from approximately 800 from before the quarantine to nearly 290, he said.
“This was out a total number of approximately 22 lakh BTSs, nationwide. Similarly, the number of optical fiber cuts, were reduced from approximately 100 per day from before the quarantine to approximately 19 fiber cuts during the past 15 days of the quarantine. Instructions were also provided to all power companies to ensure stable and continuous power to cell towers to minimize logistical movements,” the statement added.
During the meeting, COAI raised the need for the government to address the distressed financial plight of the industry, on an expedited basis. It has asked for a reduction in the License Fees (LF) and Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) as well as modifications in the GST where spectrum debt payments, LF and SUC payments would not be classified as “services” and hence not attract GST.
The DoT Secretary referred the matter to Member, Finance for follow-up, Mathews said.
