NEW DELHI: To reduce cost, the Department of Telecom (DoT) may use infrastructure owned by the power sector distributors for deployment of 5G small cells (small 5G towers). The government will make alliances with power Discoms, cable operators and municipal authorities for using their utility poles for small cells deployment and providing optical fiber backhaul to these cells.
“To reduce the carbon footprint of telecom networks and reduce deployment cost of the upcoming 5G network, it is imperative to promote collaboration of the telecom industry with other infrastructure sectors,” said Trai chairman P D Vaghela, during the roundtable discussion on Collaborative Regulations: Co-creation and Sharing of Infrastructure. He further said all stakeholders need to have an approach where focus is not creating more and more greenfield infrastructure, but to re-use brownfield assets.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is of the view that the cross-sector partnership between telecom and Power sector can benefit both sectors.During the discussion, the regulatory body also deliberated how effectively street furniture, available under various administrative setups like smart cities, airports, ports and metro or railway can be used for deployment of 5G networks. They suggested the use of street furniture available with these authorities will obviate the need to have greenfield deployment of towers or poles for small cells. It will also bring down the capital expenditure for telecom operators.
The government is likely to hold a 5G spectrum auction in early June. However, for the rollout of 5G services, operators will need to install small cells, a term used for a miniature radio access point (AP) or wireless network base station. The small cells enhance cellular network coverage and capacity in areas. In simple term, a small cell is a 5G tower, and has the same characteristics of the classic base stations.
Govt to collaborate with Discoms, authorities
The government will make alliances with power Discoms, cable operators and municipal authorities for using their utility poles for small cells deployment and providing optical fiber backhaul to these cells