The WMO, known widely as Wireless Monitoring Organization, in collaboration with the DoT or Department of the Telecommunications and the IMS or International Monitoring Station, announced that they had conducted an awareness campaign in Delhi, NCR, in relation to the illegal mobile signal boosters, with the organisations laying emphasis on the strict action and penalties that can be imposed on people who install these illegal devices.
This was done on Thursday, wherein the WMO, the telecom department and the IMS in Noida, Safdarjung Enclave, Krishna Nagar, South Extension Part 2 and Masjid Moth, in collaboration with the telecom operators and the local administration.
The key point that was highlighted was the illegal mobile signal repeaters being a key cause of network issues for most consumers, with the issues mentioned being low data speeds and call drops since these repeaters were interfering with the existing network signal, thus hampering overall transfer speeds.
What Did the Campaign Result In?
The campaign was also important in underlining the need to communicate the laws and regulations that are concerned with the installation of these illegal boosters in an effective manner since, as per the authorities, mobile boosters are still being sold and installed without permission in the country.
Back in April, the COAI or Cellular Operators Association of India, an industry body, had urged the telecom department to make sure that a blanket bad was set on the sale of these devices, be it offline or online, via the dreaded e-commerce sites that include the likes of Amazon and Flipkart.
The COAI had also urged the DoT to raise this issue with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry so as to ban the import of these illegal boosters, with an instant effect.
Another request was to take this issue up with the MHA or Ministry of Home Affairs in order to issue the necessary directions to state administrations for taking action against sellers selling this illegal tool.
The engineer-in-charge at IMS Delhi stated that the wideband boosters were negatively impacting the signals that are provided by Telecom Operators. During the awareness campaign, people voluntarily surrendered repeaters and reported about improvement in network connectivity in the areas.
He also urged Delhiites to connect with their respective Telecom Operators to tackle any issues in relation to their network signal, which will lead to an overall improvement in the network.
For those of you unaware, as per the WMO, the installation, selling of, or possession of illegal repeaters is a punishable offence according to the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, as well as the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
