Telecom industry cautions people against mobile tower installation frauds

The telecom industry, represented by COAI and TAIPA, the apex bodies of telecom service providers and telecom infrastructure providers respectively, have cautioned the public against fraud related to the installation of mobile towers on their properties.

“The public is cautioned against certain companies, agencies, or individuals who are fraudulently approaching people and asking them to deposit money in their personal or company accounts in the name of tax for leasing their premises for installation of mobile towers. The same individuals are also offering fake “No Objection Certificates” for the installation of towers,” the industry bodies said in a statement.

Mobile towers are installed either by Telecom Service Providers (TSP) or Infrastructure Providers (IP) and members of the public are requested to verify authenticity by visiting the websites of TSPs or IPs before accepting any offers for tower installation. An updated list of approved TSPs and IPs is also available at www.dot.gov.in

“The telecom industry remains committed to providing the best quality of services to its customers. Mobile towers are installed by Telecom Service Providers like Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea or by authorized telecom Infrastructure Providers. Consumers are requested to verify the authenticity and bonafide of the people or organizations that are approaching them for tower installation on the website of the related company,” said Lt. Gen. Dr. SP Kochhar, DG, COAI.

T R Dua, DG, TAIPA, said, “The mobile towers are installed by the Telecom Infrastructure providers like Indus Towers, American Tower Corporation, Summit Digitel Infrastructure, Ascend Telecom, Tower Vision, Coslight India Telecom Private Limited, Sterlite Technologies Limited, Space World, Suyog Telematics, iBus Networks and Applied Solar Technologies. We have been taking several steps to caution the general public about the frauds and have devised various modes to collect the information about potential locations through various channels such as toll-free number, website, e-mail etc. Besides this, as a responsible association, TAIPA has also been publishing public notice in newspapers for alerting general public about the tower frauds.”

Members of the public can call on the national consumer helpline from anywhere in India by dialing 14404 or 1800114000 for more information on this matter, the industry bodies said.