Telecom field engineers maintaining, upgrading capacity by visiting every site: TAIPA

Industry body TAIPA on Saturday said telecom field engineers are maintaining and upgrading capacities by visiting every site throughout the country, as they manage communications infrastructure amid spurt in data usage.

With public and private sector employees switching to work-from-home, the requirement and availability of telecom operations becomes essential for providing services 24x7, Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a complete lockdown of the entire country for 21 days in an unprecedented move to halt the spread of the coronavirus, shortly after which the Centre had said all road, rail and air services will remain suspended during this period.

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked chief secretaries of states and advisors to UT administrators to designate nodal officers to ensure maintenance of telecom infrastructure amid curfew and lockdown," the TAIPA statement said.

Many industries, including the telecom sector, are now facing challenging times, and operating from home and has led to spike in telecom and internet needs, it added.

Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) Director-General T R Dua said: "While we are struggling to manage our routines and professional fronts, I would just like to remind (about) the role of telecom and internet services during these testing times...in spite of spurt in data usage we are able to manage the critical telecom infrastructure on 24/7 basis".

"Our telecom field engineers are maintaining and upgrading capacity by visiting every site, throughout the country 24x7.