<div><em> "We have allowed erection of towers at government buildings across India,” says Ravi Shankar Prasad. <strong>Haider Ali Khan</strong> reports</em></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><div>The call drop issue has been in the eye of a storm of late, with even the Prime Minister giving a call to end this menace early this week. The telecom companies and the Department of Telecom (DoT) have been playing a blame-game while the consumers are suffering bad telecommunication services. While DoT is blaming operators for the shortage of towers, telcos have been pointing fingers at the government for not providing adequate spectrum to operate with. </div><div> </div><div>Speaking at the Businessworld ‘Digital India’ event, Communication and Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday (26 August) "complaints against call drops and a motivated campaign against radiation cannot go together". </div><div> </div><div>He further pointed out that mobile tower radiation norms in India are 10 times more stringent as compared to many developed countries. Prasad also quoted several court judgments that say that radiation from mobile towers is within the prescribed limit set by WHO and the Government of India. Prasad urged mobile operators to optimise their network and said companies have been allowed to erect towers at government buildings across India. </div><div> </div><div>"When mobile operators told me that they don't get place to install towers, I wrote to all the CMs to offer government buildings for setting up towers", he said. </div><div> </div><div>In a recent development, telecom operators have asked the Government of India to allow them access to defence lands and areas in order to install towers to solve the call drop problem. There are vast areas in the country especially in the North-East and Kashmir where defence forces occupy large tracts of land that are not used by telcos or by any civilian installation. </div><div> </div><div>The quality of calls can be expected to improve if they opt for lower frequency. Mobile towers are currently using radio frequencies in the 300-3000 MHz range. Telcos are now pushing for the 900-1800 MHz range to improve services. </div><div> </div><div>The total number of mobile subscribers in India has reached the 980 million mark, but the shortage of bandwidth in relation to the number of operators is making the situation worse. There are only 5.5 lakh mobile towers available in India, which is half the optimum number urgently needed to save subscribers from call drops and, ultimately, monetary loss. </div><div> </div><div>When India is moving towards 4G technology, the government and telcos need to find a sustainable and feasible way to deal with the call-drop problem without compromising on national security, the minister urged. Initiatives like ‘Digital India’ need tech-based support; and mobile technology is the need of the hour, Ravi Shankar Prasad added. </div></div>
