MSRDC installs mobile signal-transmitting equipment on all bridges, flyovers notorious no-network spots to prevent call drops
MSRDC installs mobile signal-transmitting equipment on all bridges, flyovers notorious no-network spots to prevent call drops
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BRIDGING THE GAP:
The street light poles
on the flyover at the Suman Nagar junction on the Eastern Express highway have been fitted with the transmission equipment. Installation work has been completed on 22 flyovers.
Pic/Datta Kumbhar |
Living in a city peppered with flyovers, has meant living with call drops for Mumbaikars. But not for much longer. Flyovers and bridges in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, which are notorious 'dead spots' for mobile phone networks, are now being fitted with signal-transmitting equipment to prevent call drops [calls getting disconnected due to poor network.
Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) director (environment) and project in-charge P K Das said, "Instances of call drops are high along flyovers, mainly due to the height. The transmission equipment will help boost the signal strength."
Shiv Shankar Lature, managing director of Suyog Telematics, the company handling the installations, promised that call drops on flyovers and bridges would become history with the new transmission equipment. "All 32 flyovers in Mumbai will be covered. Of these, the Vashi and Airoli bridges are the most crucial since they have never been covered by cellphone companies," he said.
Using street lightsSince it is not possible to erect the usual network towers atop flyovers and bridges, MSRDC allowed the installation of transmission equipment atop street light poles. "The equipment is advanced in nature. It does not require the cumbersome power supply equipment unlike the traditional tower units," said Lature.
Installation work has been completed on 22 flyovers. But Lature is facing problems with some of the others. "In the suburbs, the power supply company is not letting us use their street light poles. They want us to erect our own poles. As we need fresh clearances for that, it is taking us longer in those areas," he explained.
For future projects This technology is also being used to overcome transmission difficulty along all future infrastructure projects including the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, metro rail and monorail. The absence of this equipment would have made things very difficult for cellphone users.
Areas with improved networkVashi Bridge
Airoli Bridgeu00a0
Nerul Flyover
Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road
Sion-Panvel Road
Ghatkopar Flyover
Thane Flyover
