Over the last two months, the civic bodies of Delhi have shut down more than 200 mobile towers, most of them illegal.
India has gained the dubious distinction of having more cellphones than toilets for its billion-plus population. But the rising level of call drops is making using those phones practically impossible.
"I upgraded to 4G thinking the problem will solve, but it has gone worse," said one of the users, Manav Arya. "It is worse when I am on the road. There is a call drop every 15-20 seconds. It is a complete mess."
Call drops have now become a national issue, with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that it be sorted out.
Today, the cabinet allowed telecom companies to trade spectrum, enabling telecom firms to sell or buy unutilised spectrum from each other. As of now, spectrum can only be acquired through government auctions.
The trading of spectrum may not be enough to completely resolve the call drop issue. Experts believe unless the telecom operators meet the prescribed standards regarding infrastructure, call drops will continue.
Going by the inputs from telecom companies, one possible reason for the rising number of call drops is the sealing of the mobile towers - most of which, the civic bodies say, were illegal.
"Our standing committee found open violation of several of the No Objection Certificates required," said Mukesh Yadav, Public Relations Officer of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Over the past two months, the civic bodies of Delhi have shut down more than 200 mobile towers. In Noida, 250 towers have been sealed in the last four months.
As a result, major dead zones --or no network zones -- have been created in areas like ITO, Dwarka, Hauz Khas, Connaught Place, Lajpat Nagar, Civil Lines, Greater Kailash.
In 2013, 3,620 illegal towers were identified in Mumbai in March, the Mumbai Police started removing these towers, but official estimates suggest only 25% have been acted upon.
According to the corporation statistics, in South Delhi alone, 2,537 of the 3,670 towers are illegal. So far, they have removed or dismantled 40 and sealed 115.