Call drop situation improving: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Says policy decision had been taken under which all buildings of Government of India must allow installation of towers

Under attack from the Opposition on the call drop problem, Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said that the situation was improving.

"There is a problem about call drops, but the situation is improving," he told reporters here.

"All the telecom operators have been told to take steps to improve quality of services," Prasad said, adding that the telecommunications department had reviewed the situation on weekly basis for the past two months to reduce call drops.

He said that all the operators had been asked to find out ways to improve the telephone service in the country and DoT Secretary Rakesh Garg had spoken to the owners/operators of the service providers at the highest level.

Identifying shortage of towers as the main problem for call drops, Prasad said that a policy decision had been taken under which all buildings of Government of India must allow installation of towers, while the post offices too had been directed to allow towers on rent at its buildings throughout the country.

He said that he had also written letters to the chief ministers of states for installations of towers at the government buildings and noted that Kerala and Andhra Pradesh among states had done so, but regretted that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was yet to respond to the missive.