TAIPA seeks Prasad's help over tower rule mismatch

Referring to mobile tower rules as "non-uniform", Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has written to communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asking him to make the rules laid down by the ministry binding on state governments.
The body pointed out that various state governments are not aligned with the mobile tower installation rules.
The Department of Telecom had framed the rules in 2013 after consulting with state governments like Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Andhra, Odisha and even some local Municipal bodies in Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur.
"We request that the DoT be incorporated or embodied in statutory framework and rules in line with the 53rd Parliamentary Committee report and be made mandatory through suitable legislation/direction for the state governments," TAIPA Chairman Akhil Gupta said in the letter.

The industry body represents companies like Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers, Reliance Infratel, GTL Infrastructure and Viom Networks.
"Despite DoT writing to state governments and holding regular meetings with state representatives, the local bodies have not put in place a uniform practice, which is adversely impacting telecom networks," Gupta added.

"These multiple documentations add additional administrative works and cause huge delay in processing of applications," the letter said.
It also spoke of AP, Odisha, Bihar, Haryana, Puducherry and Chandigarh imposing artificial restrictions for tower installation in and around water bodies, airports, hospitals and sensitive buildings in the range of 50-1,500 metres.

TAIPA also raised the issue of differential fees being charged from mobile tower firms in AP, Goa, Haryana and Chandigarh instead of a nominal one-time administrative fee stipulated in the DoT guidelines.