COAI urges DoT to allow movement of telecom staff

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic-triggered restrictions with regard to the third wave, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to allow the movement of telecom staff for continuous connectivity.

The COAI has urged DoT to write to chief secretaries/ administrators of States/Union Territories in this regard.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that connectivity is essential, more than ever before, for citizens. We want to express our sincere thanks to DoT for extending the support to the telecom industry in the past during the ongoing pandemic to maintain connectivity,” Dr 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 fibre maintenance entities who are fully vaccinated to be exempted from the e-pass process and movement is allowed on production of valid company ID card/ authorisation letter,” he added.

Telecom/Internet deployment, maintenance and operations are an essential part of the country’s information infrastructure as well as the backbone of work/study from home for the common people.

Telecom/Internet infrastructure is also crucial in the event of dissemination of the information to the public at large, financial transactions by the public and banks, and public entertainment, the COAI said.