Telcos seek Andhra support to keep connectivity during cyclone Gulab

The Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) has sought urgent support from the Andhra Pradesh government to ensure unrestricted connectivity of telecom services even during the time cyclone "Gulab" hits some districts in the state.

In a letter to state Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, it has urged the state government to allow Cell on Wheels (CoWs) for installation without any permission requirement, if the situation arises, for providing continuous telecom services in the affected areas.

Also, to ensure that telecom infrastructure functions without any interruptions, the association has sought unrestricted access of telecom personnel for accessing telecom sites. In this regard it has said that enforcement agencies like police should allow smooth access to representatives of telecom infrastructure providers for attending to faults, routine maintenance, diesel filling etc. as the telecom operations need to be run on 24x7 basis even in an emergent situation.

DIPA has also asked the state government to reach out to Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and oil companies to ensure availably of diesel on 24x7 basis. Similarly, for power, it has suggested that discoms in the state to ensure power availability for telecom tower operations, specially in the affected districts during this period.

DIPA is apex industry body of telecom infrastructure providers with members including ATC Telecom, Indus Towers, Tower Vision, Ascend Telecom, Summit Digitel, Sterlite Technologies, Space Tele Infra, Suyog Telematics, V-Con, iBus Infrastructure as well as energy solution companies like Applied Solar Technologies, and Coslight India.