At the Kolkata airport, passengers often complain about being unable to make smooth online transactions because of poor mobile phone network. The same problem is often faced by passengers at the parking lot of the airport.
The issue was raised at a meeting earlier this week and airport officials said that though an agency had been hired to install an in-building solution more than three months ago, work is yet to start because of a pending security clearance.
In-building solutions are boosters providing better indoor coverage using hubs and equipment that distribute signals to a number of antennas.
“For more than one year, the problem of poor network is causing inconvenience to passengers and also the airlines. The issue was raised at the meeting of various stakeholders at the airport,” said an airport official.
The Telegraph recently published a series of reports highlighting the problems faced by passengers at the city airport. These include problems faced by passengers not carrying Indian SIM cards in accessing Wi-Fi at the airport.
The one-time password for accessing Wi-Fi is only sent to mobile phone numbers registered in India.
An official of an airline said passengers often faced problems making online payments at the check-in counters because of network issues.
“Many passengers have to make payments at the counter for excess baggage, booking a particular row or seat and also to upgrade from the economy to the business class,” said the airline official.
“Often they have to wait because the card swiping machine takes a long time to complete the transaction because of poor network. At times, they have to go and withdraw cash from an ATM to make the payments,” he said.
The airlines and other agencies have their offices in the basement of the integrated terminal building. Officials of several airlines said they faced poor connectivity in the basement offices, too.
“Some of the devices used for operational purposes function with the help of network connections. The functioning of the devices gets disrupted because of poor network,” said an airline official.
There is a network problem in the parking lot as well.
Recently, a passenger who arrived from Delhi was trying to call the driver of his car that was parked in the basement car park of the airport.
“I was desperately trying to call the driver but his phone was unavailable. I had luggage with me and so it was not possible to go inside the parking lot,” said the passenger. “It is very difficult to locate the car among so many vehicles parked inside the car park.”
“We have awarded the contract to boost the network connectivity to a private agency. The agency will install in-building solutions at the terminal as well as parking lot. The contract was awarded more than three months back,” a senior official at the airport said on Thursday. “However, the installation work has yet to start because the security clearance is pending,” he said.
The official said they are also finalising the contract for a new Wi-Fi service provider. “The contract will be awarded soon,” he said.
An airport official who knows about the aviation security rules said there are several layers of checks before an “entity” is given the security clearance to work inside the airport’s sensitive areas.
“Clearances are required from a number of agencies, including local police and the intelligence branch. So, these things take time,” said the
official.
He said these processes are guided by the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s rules.
“Provisional security clearances can be issued based on police verification reports. Also, the airport authorities can issue security passes provided the protocol of checks is followed,” he said.