Panaji
Sagun Gawade
Q and A with Rajan S. Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
The Goan: People in Goa are really apprehensive of telecom towers. That comes in the way of operators. How do you plan to deal with it?
Rajan S Mathews: I think it is a matter of interacting and educating the citizenry of Goa and showing them that safety norms adopted by the Government of India are absolutely safe for citizens.
Besides, everyone from courts to doctors to ministers to scientists to physicists have said that the radiation emitted by telecom towers is well within prescribed limits. Clearly, the government has done its homework.
Second thing is people have to understand that without cell towers, it is nearly impossible to provide quality coverage and connectivity.
TG: What kind of cost Goa and its citizens will pay if telecom connectivity doesn’t improve?
RM: The costs are at several levels. You can make a payment on your mobile if telecom connectivity is good, else you will spend money and time going to a bank branch or an ATM. If I can get a birth certificate online without having to stand in any queue, that saves a lot of time and money too.
In a nutshell, if we don’t improve telecom connectivity, businesses don’t arrive. If businesses don’t come, government won't receive any taxe and ultimately the citizens lose. (Also) if telecom connectivity doesn’t improve, then it raises a question mark on Goa as a preferred destination for tourists as well. There is a study which shows that every 10% increase in data tele-density increases the gross-domestic-product of a state by 2-3%.
