BENGALURU: Bengaluru Metro has the second longest operational Metro network in India after Delhi. For the past one year, customers have been expecting mobile connectivity in the underground stations, but there has been no progress.
City Express approached the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL), two major network operators and even the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) — the industry association for telecom service providers in the country, to get answers. But no one had any.
Experts say that the the cost of such a project, red-tapism and tough security norms could have deterred telecom companies. Mahesh Uppal, a telecom industry analyst, says that telcos make investments based on their estimates of costs in time and money involved and the expected returns. Laying underground infrastructure is both costly and time consuming.
Infrastructure deployment requires multiple approvals including those for rights of way. “The fees for regulatory permissions can be high and approvals slow. Also, several people, with vested interests, can slow down or often stop deployment of physical infrastructure. Further, for underground infrastructure, norms for safety and security can be even more stringent,” he adds.
Save for one major network operator, mobile connectivity is non-existent once you enter these stations. When City Express asked the BMRCL when the issue would be addressed, it claimed that matter was not in their hands. UA Vasanth Rao, BMRCL's chief public relations officer and GM (finance), said that the infrastructure for providing network connectivity was laid by a private company called the American Tower Corporation (ATC). The issue was therefore “between the ATC and telecom operators,” he said. Further, Rao added, "There should be pressure from their respective customers who will start asking questions about the lack of connectivity.”
City Express also sent a detailed questionnaire to representatives of Airtel and Vodafone, more than a week ago. Even after routine follow-ups, the two companies refused to answer any questions on the issue. We also did not receive answers from ATC to queries sent to their representative at the time of this story going to print.
We also sent a questionnaire to the COAI on November 3, but in vain. When we tried to follow-up a few days later, Subi Chaturvedi, senior director, Public Affairs and Communication, COAI, asked for more information on “specific stations where there was no connectivity” which was provided four days later. When asked to comment on the matter, she said, “it was not really in our (CAOI's) purview.”