vinit goenka

Call Drop: Our Government is serious building Connectivity Infrastructure

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said”. Gautam Buddha

The telecom companies seem to have taken this phrase reciprocally as customers are facing the problem of ‘call drops’ across the country irrespective of the service provider. Be it National Capital or a township in Bhuj region of Gujarat or be it financial capital Mumbai, telecom customers are facing this problem everywhere. This phenomenon is happening due to inadequacy of infrastructure in most of the places which ultimately reduces the network coverage and decreases signal quality that leads to network congestion and causes call failures. India has 970 million mobile phone users but there are only 4 lakh towers to cater to them.

The NDA government under the able leadership of Shri Narendra Modi Ji has taken up this issue seriously and putting rigorous efforts to address this problem. The Prime Minister’s Office took a note of this problem last week and shot instructions to the BJP ruled civic bodies to allow telecom service providers install necessary equipment in hospital premises for better connectivity.

“It has been brought to the notice of this office that the patients and other visitors to the hospitals are finding it difficult to communicate through mobiles due to poor connectivity. So we are suggesting the installation of in-building solutions besides, sufficient number of trans-receivers near hospital buildings,” a letter from the PMO is believed to have said that as per media reports. The PMO has also directed the DoT to take appropriate measures and send a report to it in stipulated time.

The Telecom Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Ji has also stated that government is serious on the issue of mobile call drop. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked mobile operators to walk the extra mile to reinforce their systems as they have enough spectrum to provide telephony services without interruption. The minister said he has asked sectoral regulator TRAI to suggest a disincentive mechanism to tackle the problem, though he refused to share if it will be a financial disincentive.

We need to understand that around fifty lakh customers add to the existing Mobile users each year an India has the highest number of mobile users with comparatively lesser band connectivity.

Only after studying these reports the central government had vowed last year to initiate a project of installing 35,000 new mobile towers to strengthen the mobile signals so as to reduce the call drops. Some government reports recently divulged that off these, over 12,000 towers have already been installed during the first year of Shri Modi Ji’s government.

One factor that has been the biggest stumbling block in expansion of mobile phone connectivity is EMF (electric and magnetic field) radiation scare. Scientific research over the time has not proved any direct relation so far. The minister also put his weight behind the industry’s concern over installation of mobile towers by saying that call drop allegations and campaign against tower installation can’t go hand in hand. I firmly believe that we need to use the precautions for protecting the environment while strengthening our infrastructure. The government is also moving in this direction as the DoT has assured the World Health Organization about the safety parameters being adopted while installing these mobile towers.

The Government is committed to better infrastructure. I believe that the Government is most concerned about its peoples’ health, happiness and the development of our country. Only healthy nations will stay developed.

“Mother Earth, air, land and water are not an inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us” Mahatma Gandhi