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NEW DELHI : The telecom department Thursday sent out an advisory to states and asking them to permit movement of telecom and data services personnel without e-pass requirement for maintenance activities since telecom services were essential to having uninterrupted connectivity.
The department said that the personnel, staff and engineers among others be allowed to move and be allowed to use public or private transport, on production of valid company identification card.
Earlier in the day, the Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) which represents telecom tower and digital assets providers has sought the telecom department’s intervention for ensuring availability of diesel, power and unrestricted movement of telecom personnel for continuous tower operations amid resurgent number of Covid cases.
The industry body has asked DoT to talk to state governments and ministries of oil and gas and power to aid in providing round the clock telecom services.
“Telecom services are pivotal for enablement of several services and applications, apart from fulfilling the basic function of enabling communication, therefore under this situation, it becomes utmost important to ensure the continuity of telecom operations," the association said in its letter to telecom secretary K Rajaraman.
“DoT being the nodal department, it is requested that the communications to the concerned ministries/ officials/State’s/UT’s may be issued urgently to run telecom operations on continual basis," the association added.
The demand was reiterated by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) representing all carriers which had asked the DoT to write to state chief secretaries and administrators to allow movement of Telecom staff for continuous telecom connectivity.
SP Kochhar, director general, COAI said, “Telecom being an essential service, COAI has requested DoT to issue directions to Chief Secretaries across India to allow the staff/personnel/field engineers of TSPs, ISPs, Infrastructure Providers (IP1s), their Partners (OEMs) and optical fiber maintenance entities who are fully vaccinated must be exempted from the e-pass process and movement is allowed on production of valid Company ID card/ Authorisation letter," he said.
DIPA said that the DoT should write to top executives of oil companies - BPCL, HPCL, Indian Oil etc - besides talking to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, to ensure round the clock availability of diesel so that telecom operations could be run without interruption. For uninterrupted power supply, the industry also asked DoT to take up with ministry of power for advising all electricity distribution companies regarding power availability for telecom tower operations in each state on 24*7 basis and on priority.
The industry also sought that the department should also write to the ministry of home affairs and state chief secretaries and National Disaster Response Force for assisting telecom operations in case of any emergency or sensitive situation to ensure safety as well as security of the telecom personnel and telecom assets.
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