With Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warning telecom operators to ensure that 'call drops' stop, the association of cellular operators hit back on Monday saying that "delayed clearances" for installation of more cellular towers were the reason for the phenomenon.
"Getting the clearances for mobile towers is the problem. It takes 9-10 months to get clearances. The centre takes about six months and three months are taken by local authorities," Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General Rajan S Mathews told media here.
He noted out that against the requirement of one lakh telecom towers, only 20,000 to 25,000 towers had been installed in the last two years.
Mathews also said that increased data usage by subscribers, who are using the same infrastructure for data connectivity, was also adding to the call drop problem, and that cellular operators were trying their best to install more mobile towers to reduce call drops.
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