Thousands of delegates and 25 heads of state are expected to fly into Delhi for the G20 summit. In response, telecom companies and network infrastructure providers have ramped up capacities and have worked to plug dark spots in the network.
In January, Delhi had 5,718 5G BTS. In anticipation of G20, the last nine months alone have seen an almost doubling of this figure to 10,662 5G BTS sites. TR Dua, the Director General of the Digital Infrastructure Providers’ Association said, “Already a lot of network enhancement measures have been taken by the telcos to ensure seamless connectivity during the
G20 Summit in Delhi like faster deployment of Small Cells at the distance of every 200 metres.”
Delhi has about 23,000 telecom towers and telecom infra providers have assured that all sites are up and running ahead of the G20 Summit. TR Dua, the Director General of the Digital Infrastructure Providers’ Association further added, “Given the critical need for 24/7 uninterrupted digital communication services to be provided to the users, the telecom towers backup is kept readily available for any eventuality.”
Company sources within
Jio confirmed that the company has followed a three-pronged strategy for improving the quality of service. In the first leg, sites hosting the summit such as Pragati Maidan and Dwarka have seen the deployment of additional fibre lines and internal cells. Secondly, outdoor connectivity from the airport to hotels and venues of the Summit has seen additional capacities being deployed to plug dark spots. And thirdly, networks have also been spruced up for hotels and government buildings hosting the delegates.
On the G20 focus,
Airtel issued a statement, saying, “We are fully geared up for the forthcoming G20 leaders’ summit in Delhi. We have spruced up our network across the national capital, especially covering key summit venues, hotels, restaurants and major tourist destinations. A special task force has been formed and will be on standby till the end of the summit.”
Importantly, given the tight security protocol in place, the Centre has included communication network services as “exempted essential services”. This would enable telcos to deploy engineering teams to address telecom sites experiencing technical difficulties, in the sensitive areas.
