TELCOS SET TO INVEST 74,000CR

To tackle the problem of call drops, telecom operators — Airtel and Jio included — promised to invest over ` 74,000 crore to upgrade and expand their infrastructure, telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media after meeting senior officials of the operators, Ms Sundararajan said that the operators in their analysis showed that call drops have stabilised but other problems like fading of voice calls have increased due to various issues, including some mobile phones not complying with the required certification norms.

The operators raised the issue of non- availability of sites for installing towers along with some other problems.

She said that the problem, according to the operators, is comparatively more in devices not adhering to the Global Conformity Framework certificate.

“They raised the issue of illegal repeaters installed in networks ( which) are creating interference and affecting call quality. We will look into enforcing rules more stringently,” Ms Sundararajan said.

“Besides, telecom operators said that there is new unique phenomenon they have found in India where around 400 callers use a mobile tower during same time whereas in countries like China and others this average is in the range of 200- 300. They are now discussing with equipment makers to handle this kind of issue,” said the telecom operators.

She said Airtel, which has already invested ` 16,000 crore, promised another ` 24,000 crore. Jio promised to invest ` 50,000 crore in FY19.