The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which describes itself as “the official voice for the Indian telecom industry”, has alleged that “representatives” of local cable operators in Kolkata are not allowing them to put up cables to take fresh fibre optic connections to homes of their customers and the existing cables are being snipped intentionally.
The allegations were made in a letter addressed to the secretary of the Union government’s telecommunications department and copies of it were sent to the mayor of Kolkata, chief secretary of the Bengal government and other senior officials.
The letter says that “since the beginning of June 2023, an extreme crisis situation has cropped up in KMC and non-KMC areas”. KMC is the abbreviation for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Rules framed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation say all optical fibres must be taken underground and the fibres can be aerial only in the last mile when the connection will enter a house. The letter says local cable operators (LCOs) are not allowing them to take the aerial route in the last mile.
COAI members said on Wednesday complaints of snipping of optical fibres — which provide internet and set-top box connection — have come from Kasba, Ultadanga, Barrackpore, Madhyamgram, Khardah, Liluah and Dasnagar, among other places.
“Some of our members are suffering from widespread intentional fibre cuts by LCOs across several localities within KMC and non-KMC Areas, impacting service uptime and customer experience. Field team(s) of our member(s) are being threatened and even hostilely obstructed, leading to exorbitant delays in restoration work,” S.P. Kochhar, director-general, COAI, has said in the letter to K. Rajaraman, chairman, digital communications commission, and secretary, telecom, on July 3.
“In certain localities, our member(s) are not being allowed to restore services to the existing customers till they inform and get permission from the LCOs/Councilors/KMC authorities. Further, despite engaging with them, our member(s) are not allowed to restore services after evening hours,” the letter reads.
Mayor Firhad Hakim told The Telegraph on Wednesday evening: “I am hearing about this complaint for the first time. I do not know who is facing problems. They have never approached me. If they do not tell me what problem they are facing, how will I solve it? They should come to me if they are facing any problem.”
Members of the COAI, which represents three major telecom players (Jio, Airtel and Vi), said the issue had been simmering over the past couple of years but the situation intensified in recent times, prompting them to raise the alarm.
Hakim said the KMC has asked all operators to not use its street poles for taking cables as the poles get damaged under the weight of thick bunches of cables. The aerial route, he said, is only allowed in the last mile.
Telecom operators in the state said that in some cases the downtime — the period when the connection is disrupted — for customers stretches to 6-8 hours. “This is not ideal particularly when there is so much competition. Customers might be enticed to shift to other service providers,” an executive of a private telecom operator said, requesting anonymity.
LCOs denied the allegations. “Regarding their claim that we are cutting the lines, it is the other way round and they are trying to malign us,” said a member of the Digital Cable and Broadband Operators Association.
“LCOs are present in these localities for over three decades. We have coexisted with the BSNL and there were no issues. The private operators thought that cable operators would not survive if they entered the market. We have taken up the issue with the KMC and the state authorities.”
According to LCOs, the state government had in 2020 notified the implementation of the West Bengal State Broadband Policy, 2020, which requires telecom operators to follow proper procedure and obtain necessary permissions before laying optical fibre cables on infrastructure such as electric poles.
In a letter addressed to the Kolkata mayor on June 28,the Digital Cable and Broadband Operators Association said the telecom operators were not following the regulations by placing their cables on electric poles without permission.
The letter also said the telecom operators were in violation of the June 19 directive of the KMC to remove fibre wire rings, boxes and other infrastructure from electric poles within 15 days.
Telecom operators, however, said the KMC has not integrated the system of seeking permission to the state’s online single-window portal, which the operators use to seek consent to utilise over-ground infrastructure such as roads, poles and traffic signals.
“It may kindly be noted that the ‘Anumati’ portal and permission thereof have not been integrated by KMC and it continues to follow its own guidelines, contrary to the State RoW (right of way) guidelines. Accordingly, the industry is unable to avail the benefits of the telecom guidelines of both 2020 as well as 2023, for obtaining the necessary permissions as per the said guidelines within the KMC area,” COAI director Kochar said in his letter.
KHakim told this newspaper that permission from the Anumati portal is not required for fixing cables in KMC areas.