New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS): The Kerala government's decision to permit installation of mobile towers on government land and buildings in the state can be crucial to enable better connectivity for mobile phone users, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) said here Friday.

COAI is the GSM body in India.

"This is a welcome move by the government of Kerala. COAI has been requesting various state governments across the country for installing mobile towers on Government buildings and PSUs. Government buildings are well spread out in all important locations and hence can be crucial to enable better connectivity for mobile phone users," said COAI director general Rajan S. Mathews.

For providing seamless connectivity without any gaps, it is important to have a continuous mesh of cell tower sites in the mobile network architecture, he said.

"In our recent communique to the hon'ble chief secretary of Kerala, we had requested for the formulation of rules to remove road blocks in the installation of telecom towers in government buildings. We are happy that the Kerala government has responded to our request and taken a timely decision," he added.

The Information Technology department of the Kerala government, in an order dated Jan 1, 2015, has directed to permit installation of mobile towers on government lands and buildings in the state as an important step in ensuring better telecom and internet connectivity.