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"Poor cell phone coverage in VVIP areas''

Special Correspondent

Service providers unable to put up the requisite number of cell sites: TRAI

NEW DELHI: Cell phone coverage is poorest in the power centre of the national Capital because of the mobile phone companies' reluctance to invest in more towers and delays in granting permission for cell towers by the authorities, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

As a result, use of cell phones is severely restricted in many important Government buildings such as Rashtrapati Bhavan as well as offices including those housing the Press Information Bureau, the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs.

The large number of complaints is about call drops and poor coverage, especially in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) areas and the VVIP Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ). Based on discussions with mobile service providers and tests to understand the extent of the problem in these areas, TRAI has released a study paper which points out that though the subscriber base in Delhi grew ten times in four years, service providers were unable to put up the requisite number of cell sites in the LBZ and NDMC areas.

The inadequate number of cell sites has resulted in poor coverage, call drops and heavy congestion over a period of time.

The LBZ area is covered by each operator with just two or three cell sites, which are totally inadequate to provide satisfactory service, considering the size of the area, subscriber base and the traffic generated in the area.

As per estimates, there is a shortage of 135 cell sites in LBZ areas. In the NDMC area, at least 53 more cell sites are needed for all the operators.

Issue

The industry said it had been taking up the issue of additional cell sites with NDMC, Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the Delhi Government and though some headway has been made, urgent action is needed to address the issue in the wake of exponential growth of mobile services.

Moreover, Government buildings in LBZ have thick walls, blocking penetration of signals.

For improving the coverage inside buildings it is necessary to set up micro cell sites in these buildings.

However, according to the operators, the Central Public Works Department is tardy with permission for micro cell sites in these buildings.

The operators also complain of shortage of spectrum due to high growth and delay in allocating additional spectrum.

This, according to them, is also affecting the service quality of mobile services all over Delhi. TRAI has now decided to take up these issues with the authorities concerned.

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