India's Department of Telecommunications has revised the Indian Telegraph Act right of way rules to make it easier to install aerial optical fiber cable.

Gagandeep Kaur, Contributing Editor

October 26, 2021

2 Min Read
India amends RoW rules to boost broadband infrastructure

India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has revised the Indian Telegraph Act Right of Way (RoW) rules to make it easier to install aerial optical fibre cable in the country. This will help service providers in quickly deploying the required infrastructure for the upcoming 5G rollout.

Indian operators have been demanding a change in the RoW regulations for several years now.

The country has complex RoW regulations, with different rules and charges for different states and districts. Further, approvals from several departments make it extremely tough to build optical fiber infrastructure for broadband – one of the key reasons there is minimal optical fiber network in the country.

Figure 1:

According to the new rules, service providers now need to pay one-time compensation of not more than INR1000 ($13) per kilometre for laying overhead fiber. This ensures uniform fees across the country, something service providers have been demanding for some time.

Apart from nominal administrative costs, there will not be any charges to maintain, transfer or shift optical fiber cables to overground. Previously, the RoW rules covered only underground optic fiber cables and mobile towers. These amendments will simplify the approval process, thus fueling the construction and expansion of digital communications infrastructure in the country.

Data deluge

India is recording a massive increase in data consumption growth, and the lack of fiber networking is emerging as a bottleneck for telcos to provide reliable and high-speed connectivity.

India's per capita fiber coverage is 0.09 fiber per km, which is incredibly low compared with 0.87 for China. Added to this, fiber is also needed to ensure the delivery of several 5G use cases.

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"Optical fiber is a fundamental and structural part of both mobile and fixed broadband networks. Faster rollout of fiber is important for backhauling a large amount of data at high throughput, improving reliability and reducing latency," says Digital Infrastructure Providers Association.

The telecom department has come with several industry-friendly policies recently. It changed the definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), allowed 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and offered a four-year moratorium to the telcos to clear off dues and penalties.

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— Gagandeep Kaur, contributing editor, special to Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Gagandeep Kaur

Contributing Editor

With more than a decade of experience, Gagandeep Kaur Sodhi has worked for the most prominent Indian communications industry publications including Dataquest, Business Standard, The Times of India, and Voice&Data, as well as for Light Reading. Delhi-based Kaur, who has knowledge of and covers a broad range of telecom industry developments, regularly interacts with the senior management of companies in India's telecom sector and has been directly responsible for delegate and speaker acquisition for prominent events such as Mobile Broadband Summit, 4G World India, and Next Generation Packet Transport Network.

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