Mobile tower installation at 60% of target over regulatory delays: COAI

Mobile tower installations have reached only 60 per cent of intended target of 1,00,000 towers annually, mainly due to delay in permission from local authorities and other structural issues, industry body COAI said on Tuesday.

Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) also said it is “reasonable” for regulator Trai to review service quality norms, especially at a time when technology is changing dramatically, but added that policy or regulatory actions need to be “curative rather than penal”.

“We expect that in any particular year there will be 1,00,000 mobile tower installations. But at the last count, it has reached 50,000 or 60,000 towers,” COAI Director General, Rajan Mathews told PTI.