NEW DELHI: In a bid to expedite the rollout of 5G networks in the country, the Department of Telecommunications announced amendments to the Right of Way (RoW) including simplifying application procedures for small cells.
As per the amendment, the telecom licences will be able to use street infrastructure to deploy telecom equipment at a nominal cost of Rs 150 annually in rural areas and Rs 300 annually in urban areas. To facilitate faster fabrication, street infrastructure may be utilised at a nominal cost of Rs 100 annually to install overground optical fibre.
While announcing the change, telecom minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said that 5G requires more towers, poles, fibre, and bandwidth. Therefore, the cost of applying for seeking permission to deploy telecom infrastructure has been capped in all states.
The minister also said 5G services will be launched by October and after that, the government will rapidly scale up (the 5g infra) to suburban and rural areas. “We expect investment of about Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore to come into the sector. This will lead to good employment generation,” said Vaishnaw.
Citing industry feedback, the minister said that investments to the tune of Rs 50,000-60,000 crore have already been made, and most of the Rs 3 lakh crore investment would be made in the next 18-24 months.
Claiming that the telecom industry is giving equal importance to rural areas and urban areas, he predicted that the 5G services will reach almost all parts of the country in the next 2-3 years. The Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), a body representing all three private telecom operators welcomed the government’s move. Lt. Gen. SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI, said the amendment in the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022 will ensure the speedy roll-out of the technology and make the dream of 5G enable India to come true.
“Access to the existing infrastructure, deployment of new infrastructure, and the high cost involved in it were major challenges the telecom sector always came across which will now be eased down,” he added. Jaideep Ghosh, COO of law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas said bringing RoW on a single platform, along with other elements of telecom networks, is a leapfrog step for India.
Cost to deploy telecom infra capped in all states
NewDelhi: Ashwani Vaishnaw said that 5G requires more towers, poles, fibre, and bandwidth. Therefore, the cost of application for seeking permission to deploy telecom infrastructure has been capped in all states