Kolkata: Mobile users in Delhi could soon face big disruptions in coverage as processing of applications for setting up new towers has come to a grinding halt after telcos and tower companies strongly protested the massive jump in tower installation charges by local municipal bodies.
Tower installation rates, recently revised by the two Delhi municipalities, have effectively jumped almost 150% to Rs 5 lakh per tower for a 5-year span. Worse, each application for setting up mobile towers in Delhi will also attract an extra one-time levy of Rs 10,000 towards administrative expenses. Further, installation charges will rise by 25% if a tower is shared between multiple telcos.
Both North and South Delhi municipal corporations, have in separate circulars, dated January 21 and January 5 respectively, said “revised installation charges for cell towers/poles would be Rs 10,000 per month or Rs 1 lakh per annum,” adding that in case of tower-sharing between telcos, an “extra 25% would be applicable“ per instance of such sharing. ET has seen these circulars.
Problems have got aggravated as the online portal that accepts applications for new tower installations in Delhi is not functioning. As a result, even six-month old applications could now attract the higher installation levies, effective January 5 and January 21 in SDMC and NDMC jurisdictions respectively.
Telcos and tower firms have sought DoT’s immediate intervention.
“These orders are in contravention to the settlement agreement between the industry and the two Delhi municipal corporations accepted by the Delhi High Court back in January 2017, and, accordingly, are an adverse and retrograde step for the telecom sector in the capital of India,” said S P Kochhar, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi).
He added that COAI has urged “the commissioners of SDMC/NDMC to withdraw these circulars mandating the higher rates immediately. “The industry has also engaged with DoT for its urgent intervention.”
T R Dua, director general of Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), in turn, said the orders are “a direct contravention of Right of Way (RoW) rules of November 2016, and these hefty revised fees have literally put the creation of telecoms infrastructure in Delhi on hold”. TAIPA represents Indus, ATC, Summit Digitel, Ascend and Tower Vision.
Matters have come to a head as both Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio continue to grow their 4G user base in key markets like Delhi, especially as strong mobile data consumption continues to remain strong amid the continuing pandemic with vast swathes of India Inc still working from home.
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