Delhi Metro commuters may see fewer call drops, better mobile connectivity

In good news for Delhi Metro commuters, especially those using the Magenta Line (Botanical Garden to Janakpuri West), poor mobile connectivity and frequent call drops may become a problem of the past with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) licensing space for the installation of telecom towers.
The DMRC plans to license space for telecom towers at 20 locations, including 15 metro stations and five train depots: Vasant Vihar, Jamia Millia Islamia, Okhla Vihar, Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Kalkaji Mandir, Dashrath Puri and the Kalindi Kunj train depot, among others.

Around a 100 towers have already come up along the busy Blue Line corridor (Dwarka to Noida City Centre/Vaishali) and Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to HUDA City Centre) to improve poor cell-phone connectivity.

The oldest corridor of the Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda) will see mobile towers coming up at Kashmere Gate, Tis Hazari, Netaji Subhash Place and Dilshad Garden, apart from the Shastri Park train depot.

Other locations where mobile towers are going to be installed are at the Blue Line’s RK Ashram Marg station and Supreme Court (Pragati Maidan) station, apart from the Yamuna Bank train depot I and depot II and the Najafgarh train depot.

Two stations on the Violet Line (Kashmere Gate-Ballabhgarh), Raja Nahar Singh and Sant Surdas (Sihi), and the Badli depot of Yellow Line will also get the towers.

The licensing of these spaces will help DMRC augment its non-operational revenue while providing mobile coverage on the station premises and its periphery for commuters using the urban rail network. DMRC plans to license plots of approximately 8 square metres at each location to erect the telecom towers.

The licensed sites and locations will remain with the DMRC, without ceding any right, title or interest of any nature in favour of the licensee.

The licensee will also have to ensure compliance with permissible radiation limits for mobile towers as laid down by the municipal corporations, Delhi government, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the central government’s Department of Telecommunications.

Apart from mobile towers at station premises, DMRC also plans more mobile signal booster equipment on various sections of the Magenta and Pink (Shiv Vihar-Majlis Park) Lines that currently suffer poor mobile connectivity, sources told TOI.