Alleging that Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited has denied Right of Way permissions needed to deploy infrastructure at the new airport to provide cellular services to travellers, telecom operators have sought the intervention of the Union government, The Hindu reported on Wednesday.

Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited, the operator of the recently opened Navi Mumbai airport, is owned by Adani Group subsidiary Adani Airport Holding Limited.

Right of Way permissions are approvals allowing entities such as telecom companies to use public or private land for installing infrastructure or for public access.

In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications on Tuesday, the Cellular Operators Association of India alleged “monopolistic arrangements” by the Navi Mumbai airport operator.

The association represents India’s largest telecom companies Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

It said that the airport operator has deployed an in-building network and has also sought “extortionary charges” that “undermine competition and consumer choice”, The Hindu reported.

The allegations come amid an image widely shared on social media showing a display board at the Navi Mumbai airport informing passengers that mobile signals for Jio, Airtel and Vi may not be available in the area and that they could instead use the airport Wi-Fi.

In its letter, the Cellular Operators Association of India said that Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited “declined to grant the necessary permissions and directed telecom service providers [TSPs] to mandatorily utilise a network deployed by it, at exorbitant and commercially untenable charges”.

The airport operator had sought nearly Rs 92 lakh per month per operator, which would come up to about Rs 44.1 crore annually for four operators, The Hindu reported.

The fourth telecom firm is an apparent reference to the government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

“These charges are grossly disproportionate and significantly exceed the total capital expenditure ordinarily required for deployment of an independent IBS network,” the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.

An IBS, or an in-building solution, network is a telecom system that extends mobile coverage and data services inside large buildings where external signals are weak, using distributed antennas and small cells.

Noting that the airport qualifies as a “public entity” under the 2023 Telecommunications Act and the 2024 Telecommunications Right of Way Rules, the association said that the facility’s operator was statutorily obligated to grant Right of Way permission in a “non-discriminatory and time-bound manner” for the installation of telecommunication infrastructure.

The letter stated that Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited had conferred upon itself exclusive Right of Way permissions under the guise of being a “neutral host”, adding that such “monopolist arrangements” were not permissible under the law.

This “exclusive arrangement” effectively forecloses competition and compels all licensed telecom service providers to operate through a single entity at “extortionary charges, thereby undermining competition, consumer choice and regulatory neutrality”, it added.

Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited denied the allegations, claiming that the airport is a sensitive zone. It added that frequent servicing, maintenance and upkeep of the infrastructure was best managed by it, The Hindu reported.

It said that it had therefore opted for an independent IBS network, which would also ensure uninterrupted connectivity across the airport.