Sabotaging telecom infra, disrupting services as form of protest strongly condemned: COAI
Terming telecom services as lifeline for lakhs of customers, COAI s Director General, SP Kochhar said disruption of telecom services is causing immense inconvenience to the common man, for whom mobile services are essential . PTI
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Industry body COAI on Tuesday strongly condemned the sabotaging of telecom network infrastructure and disruption of services as a form of protest, after over 1,500 mobile towers were targeted during farmers stir in Punjab.
Terming telecom services as lifeline for lakhs of customers, COAI s Director General, SP Kochhar said disruption of telecom services is causing immense inconvenience to the common man, for whom mobile services are essential .
Industry body COAI on Tuesday strongly condemned the sabotaging of telecom network infrastructure and disruption of services as a form of protest, after over 1,500 mobile towers were targeted during farmers stir in Punjab. Terming telecom services as lifeline for lakhs of customers, COAI s Director General, SP Kochhar said disruption of telecom services is causing immense inconvenience to the common man, for whom mobile services are essential . While we respect people s right to protest on any issue, sabotaging the telecom network infrastructure and disrupting telecom services as a form of protest by anyone is strongly condemned, COAI said in a statement.
Sources with knowledge of the matter said as many as 63 towers were damaged on Tuesday.
Jio repaired some of the towers that were damaged over the past few days, they said, adding 826 sites were down as of Tuesday afternoon.
The masts damaged were in places such as Amritsar, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Firozpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Patiala and Sangrur, the sources said.
Jio has 9,000 plus towers in the state.
On Monday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked police to take action against vandalisers.
The use of violence could alienate the protesters from the masses, which would be detrimental to the interests of the farming community, he had said in a statement.
The telecom industry, which facilitated wide-spread digital adoption during the pandemic, continues to be financially stressed and seeks government support on issues like liquidity, rationalisation of levies, AGR and spectrum pricing, according to COAI. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), in its outlook for 2021, said 5G launch is expected in the later part of the year. The technology is poised to open up a plethora of possibilities in the context of business models, better education, healthcare, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and intelligent logistics, S P Kochhar, Director General of COAI said in a statement. However, industry continues to be financially stressed and we seek the support of the government in enabling the industry to truly play its role as an enabler of horizontal growth and a boost to the nation s economy, Kochhar said.
COAI says telecom industry financially stressed; seeks govt support on key challenges
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Last Updated: Dec 28, 2020, 04:05 PM IST
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Synopsis
Listing out the top challenges faced by its member telecom companies, COAI said these relate to liquidity, rationalisation of the regulatory levies, Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) issues, spectrum pricing, Right of Way (RoW) rules, and cell tower radiation.
Like any other sector, the telecom industry too was impacted by the pandemic with a sharp fall in the number of subscribers in March and April. However, as business and individuals adopted digital ways, telecom industry emerged as a saviour .
NEW DELHI: The telecom industry, which facilitated wide-spread digital adoption during the pandemic, continues to be financially stressed and seeks government support on issues like liquidity, rationalisation of levies, AGR and spectrum pricing, according to COAI.