The Hindu Business Line : Living near a jail? Your mobiles may go dead

Operators' views
Cellular operators say the move is against larger consumer interest
Warn that other services, which use radio frequency such as radio, may also get disrupted

New Delhi , Nov. 17

If you are living near a jail, chances are your mobile phones will go dead. After asking mobile operators to shut down services on days of elections and Government exams, now some of the State police authorities have ordered operators to jam services in jails. Reason being that jail inmates were increasingly smuggling in mobile phones for communicating with their outside contacts to carry out illegal activities.

The Haryana State Director-General of Police (Prisons) has asked all the mobile operators to install jammers in the jails across the State or face criminal prosecution.

The problem, however, is that jammers may block all mobile communication services for people living within 4-5 kms of a jail. Cellular operators warn that even other services, which use radio frequency such as radio, may also get disrupted. "Instead of finding ways to monitor and control illegal mobile use, authorities are unfairly trying to take the easy way out by seeking to jam the service. If mobile phones are being smuggled into jails it is because the authorities have failed to check it. Why should the operators be asked to take action, which is against the larger consumer interest," said Mr T. V Ramachandran, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association India (COAI).

Earlier, cellular services around a jail in Bangalore were jammed causing difficulty to mobile users living around the prison. Prison authorities in Jammu & Kashmir and Alipore Central Jail in West Bengal have also decided to install jammers to check use of mobile phones by detainees lodged in jails.

Cellular operators, along with the Association of Unified Services Providers of India , are taking up the matter with the Department of Telecom. They said that if Haryana State authorities were allowed to jam cellular services indiscriminately, it would only be a matter of time before other State jails also start implementing the system.

State Government officials, however, said that technology was available to limit the impact of jamming within the jail compound. They pointed out instances in other countries where the system has been deployed successfully. Cellular operators on the other hand say that such systems can be deployed in collaboration with the Wireless Planning and Coordination wing of the DoT, which manages spectrum usage. "Operators cannot be asked to simply jam cellular services indiscriminately as it will lead to chaos. It has to be done in a proper way by involving the WPC," said a cellular operator.

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