Will towers and smartphones benefit from eased lockdown in India?

Is the Indian lockdown being eased for smartphone sale and manufacturing along with tower installation? No one seems to be quite sure.

For example the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme has started taking online orders for its products and, it says, has started selling its smartphones and accessory products online, as well as resuming operations via its offline channels in compliance with the latest government directives – at least in government-defined green and orange zones.

Red, orange and green zones denote the three levels of strictness of the lockdown. The fewest restrictions are in green zones; the most restrictions are in red zones. The lockdown continues until 17 May but some restrictions have been eased in orange and green zones, making handset sales more likely.

This doesn’t necessarily mean Realme India can restart production, however; recent news reports have suggested that the company is still awaiting permission to go ahead.

The production situation is still vague in much of the country; some phone makers are set to start manufacturing, with permission from local state authorities. Others, notably those in red zones, are less sure of their situation.

Clarity on construction and installation of new telecommunications towers is also in short supply. The Tower And Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has written to the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to clarify the rules for a business that, inevitably, involves a lot of movement of people and parts.

There is no doubt an argument that tower building is needed to meet additional capacity needs and, even though the lockdown is continuing until 17 May, the government has been trying to ease restrictions slightly to allow some modest reopening of the economy. However, it is not clear when telecom tower-related work will move beyond necessary maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

―Developing Telecoms