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The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has rejected what it calls “baseless allegations” that mobile operators are obstructing in-train coverage on the Mumbai Metro. In a statement, the industry body set out its members’ position and accused the metro operator of fostering a monopoly that makes the provision of normal in-building solutions (IBS) prohibitively expensive.
According to Lt Gen Dr S P Kochhar, Director General, COAI , telecom service providers (TSPs) have “always been willing” to install and fund IBS equipment inside the metro system. However, Mumbai Metro has appointed a single third-party vendor and is “now trying to extract monopolistic and extortionate rents” for allowing access to its infrastructure, the association said.
COAI argues that the practice breaches both the new Telecommunications Act and the Right of Way (RoW) Rules, which prevent public authorities from denying network operators reasonable access to public places. “This is exactly what is being done by Mumbai Metro,” the statement reads.
Offer of a common network ignored
To minimise service disruption, operators proposed deploying a shared, neutral-host network, an arrangement already used in sensitive locations such as the Pragati Maidan tunnel and the Central Vista project in Delhi, where TSPs lay infrastructure at their own expense. COAI says this offer “has been ignored by the Mumbai Metro”.
The metro company, it claims, is relying on precedent to justify the third-party contract and its refusal to grant RoW directly to operators. “Wrong precedent does not make a legitimate one,” COAI said, adding that it is pursuing the wider issue of “such monopolies” separately “to stop extortionate practices”.
Extortionate rates ‘not viable’
Kochhar added, operators remain ready to invest the capital needed to install equipment inside the metro even though it yields little extra revenue, the association insisted. What they cannot accept, COAI said, are the “extortionate rates” being demanded for access.
While negotiations continue, all TSPs have been providing limited trial service in the trains. On 7 April 2025, they submitted a joint letter offering to supply full mobile connectivity to passengers free of chargewithout any payment either to the third-party vendor or to Mumbai Metro,until commercial terms could be finalised. COAI says the “reasonable, consumer-first proposal” was ignored.
The association has further urged Mumbai Metro to honour the spirit of the Telecommunications Act, allow direct RoW to operators, and adopt the shared-network model that has become standard practice in other public projects. Doing so, it argues, would quickly restore reliable mobile coverage for commuters and end the current stalemate.
Background
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) are locked in a dispute over access to mobile-network infrastructure on the city’s metro. COAI, which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, claims the metro authority is breaching the new Telecommunications Act and Right-of-Way (RoW) rules by denying operators direct access to public assets and instead funnelling all connectivity through a single third-party supplier. This arrangement, it says, enables “monopolistic and extortionate rents”.
At the centre of the row is ACES, a Dubai-based firm appointed by MMRCL to install and manage in-building solutions (IBS) for the underground stations and tunnels on Mumbai Metro Line 3 (Colaba–Bandra–Aarey). The three mobile operators had offered to fund a common, neutral-host IBS network themselves, arguing it would ensure seamless coverage for passengers at no extra cost to the metro. MMRCL, however, insisted that all services be routed through its chosen vendor, compelling the operators to pay ACES’ fees.
COAI describes the vendor-only model as unlawful and anti-consumer, warning that it creates an artificial monopoly over essential digital infrastructure. The association has called on MMRCL to honour the spirit of the Telecommunications Act, grant operators direct RoW inside the metro and adopt the shared-network approach already used in comparable public projects across India.