HYDERABAD The Telangana government’s plans to unveil fourth generation broadband (4G) services in Hyderabad received a shot in the arm after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) gave its go ahead for the project.
The GHMC on Friday gave its approval to Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) to set up aerial cabling across 310 km in the city covering the West and Central zones. The civic body also permitted RJIL to use existing poles, belonging to the corporation and the CPDCL to roll out 4G services and electronic security under Greater Hyderabad limits.
The GHMC will allow the telecom company to use as many as 9,000 poles and will charge `1,000 for each pole used taking the total amount to `90 lakh per annum.
The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department has sent the relevant file to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s office for his approval. He is likely to clear the file on Monday.
Recently, the chief minister held a meeting with officials of the GHMC and other departments where it was agreed to allow RJIL to take up aerial cabling in few selected places. The government wants the first phase of the project to be completed before the beginning of the ‘Metropolis World Congress-2014’ in the first of October.
The 310-km area in the West and Central zones mostly covers areas surrounding the venue of the conference, HICC and areas like Begumpet, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, where the delegates are expected to stay.
Officials of the GHMC told Express that RJIL had submitted proposals for taking up aerial cabling across 875 km but their plan was put on hold as the corporation felt hanging aerial cables would make the city look ugly.
In 2013, the civic body permitted the telecom company to take up works of laying underground cables in 80 km but the unsatisfactory restoration works forced the GHMC to stop giving further permissions.
GHMC officials are of the opinion that installation of wireless 4G services will be a big step forward in the technology sector, will serve as a catalyst for economic growth and will help in improving e-governance, tele-education, health care and access to information.
As per the agreement with the government, the process of laying 4G service lines is to be completed before the year-end. However, the laying of optic fibre cables using a mix of horizontal directional drilling and open trenching techniques including restoration works cannot be completed within the stipulated time, hence the proposal of aerial cabling was approved.
Tech Leap Forward
GHMC to charge Rs 1,000 per pole
Corpn to net `90L annually in the process
Areas like Jubilee Hills, HICC, Banjara Hills to be covered
KCR likely to clear the file on Monday
Govt wants to complete phase I works before World Metropolitan Congress in Oct
