Laying the Groundwork : Industry demand for increased fibre penetration in the country

The data requirement of the population is growing continuously. The Covid-19-induced lockdown at the start of 2020 and the digitialistion and virtualisation trend that followed have added to the data traffic. This has spurred a digital revolution in the country.

Telecom infrastructure has been pivotal in shaping the digital revolution. A key component of this infrastructure is fibre, which has assumed a critical role of late, efficiently meeting the growing connectivity needs of the population. According to industry analysts, the upsurge in data traffic due to Covid-19 and the shift in the traffic pattern can be supported only through fibre to the tower.

That said, India is a highly fibre-starved country. Despite being the second largest telecommunications market in the world, India’s fibre km per capita is much lower than several other key telecom markets. The fibre km per capita in China, with a 1.3 billion population, is 0.87, whereas for India (with a 1.2 billion population) it is just 0.09.

A look at the role of fibre, roadblocks in implementation, industry recommendations and the way forward…

Need for fiberisation

Sustained data growth

The average data usage per month has grown at an exponential rate of 76 per cent over the past five years, owing to the continued increase in data consumption. This is expected to increase even further in the aftermath of Covid-19 as work-from-home, virtual meetings and online classes become a norm. As per recent estimates, the average data usage per month has reached 13.5 GB. The rural segment is also emerging as a key growth driver, with rural consumption accounting for 45 per cent of the overall data usage.

As data needs of the population continue to grow and traffic patterns continue to shift, there is an increasing demand for high bandwidth. This calls for a deeper fibre penetration as fibre can provision high-quality broadband with high speed data, ultra-low latency and limitless bandwidth.

5G success

5G technology will require a multifold increase in small cell deployment, with each small cell backhauled over fibre. Moreover, while the current capacity per tower site is about 1 Gbps for 2G/3G/4G service, the capacity needed at each site for 5G services is 10-20 Gbps, which requires fiberised backhaul. Further, analysts have highlighted that traditional microwave can only provide speeds of 500 Mbps-1 Gbps. E-band microwave can provide 1-2.5 Gbps of speed, depending on the number of spots allocated. However, in order to achieve capacities of 10-20 Gbps, there is a need to deploy fibre across all tower sites.

Thus, in order to make 5G a success story in India, it is essential to invest in network densification through provisioning of fibre, small cells and mobile towers.

Impetus to digital economy

India is going through rapid digital transformation and requires deeper fibre penetration across the country. This will help bridge the digital divide in the country and play a pivotal role in bringing the vision of Digital India, e-governance and smart cities into reality. Further, the OFC network can provide a big boost to the creation of data centres in the country and improve security surveillance and IoT-based services. In addition, fiberisation makes the telecom network highly secure with its sensor-driven deaggregated architecture. Industry leaders are also of the view that fiberisation would enable high business continuity and jump-start the economy with better data-driven adoption.

RoW roadblock

The launch of the Right of Way [RoW] Rules, 2016, was a major move by the government. However, the rules have not been uniformly implemented across states, thus creating bottlenecks in the OFC roll-out process. So far, 29 states/UTs out of 36  have aligned their policies with the RoW Rules, 2016. The states/UTs that are yet to align their policies with the rules are Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, and Daman & Diu.

The non-uniform implementation has given rise to problems such as long delays, no timelines for granting permission, exorbitant charges, varying fees charged by different bodies, no standard documentation, multiplicity of formats, coercive action/sealing of towers, and non-availability of government land and buildings. According to TAIPA, the restoration and RoW charges for OFC are very high in key municipal corporations across states. The RoW charges vary from Rs 50,000 per km to Rs 11 million per km across states in India. As such, the RoW charges are very prohibitive in many municipal corporations, adding to the cost of laying OFC. These high costs act as the key roadblocks to fibre penetration in India. Besides, there is a need to take approval from various government departments for laying OFC. So far, very few states have launched single-window online portals.

Key recommendations

Enhancement of scope of IP-1s

There is a need to expand the scope of IP-1s to include active infrastructure on a sharing basis. Telecom, being a capital-intensive business, needs huge investment for growth and expansion. The enhancement of scope of IP-1s will facilitate fiberisation and strengthen the digital infrastructure in the country.

Adoption of National Building Code by states

According to TAIPA, there is a need to amend the building code in all the states and bring it in line with the NBC amendment introduced in 2016. Further, all the upcoming infrastructure projects should have provisions for laying of ducts and cables. This will enable future homes to be digitally ready and allow consumers to have access to high speed internet services, and seamless and uninterrupted voice services at affordable prices.

Mandatory fibre sharing

A major cost driver for 5G will be the need to deploy hundreds of thousands of kilometres of additional OFC under city streets to connect an array of small cells. It is estimated that 5G will require six times the investment to deliver comparable coverage to existing 4G/LTE networks. The sharing of fibre to the tower will help avoid the duplication of infrastructure, minimise frequent disruptions to traffic and reduce capex.

National common duct policy

Evolving a national common duct policy for laying fibre across state roads, national highways and municipal roads will pave the way for efficient fibre roll-out across the country. A common duct will enable the IP-1s, TSPs and ISPs to easily lay fibre for providing broadband services. As per industry experts, laying a common shareable infrastructure at one go will allow different organisations to lease/buy ducts for their needs. Further, the availability of a common infrastructure will help save time, costs and efforts as problems associated with laying underground cables could be avoided to a large extent.

The way forward

Going forward, there is a need to address the RoW issue. TAIPA is of the view that the government should enforce the RoW Rules, 2016 across states. Further, industry leaders have expressed that the government should expedite the creation of the National Fibre Authority of India (NFAI). According to TAIPA, the NFAI should be established within six months and a national blueprint should be initiated for fiberisation. The industry body is also of the view that a central agreement should be signed with the state discoms for allowing aerial OFC. This will help increase the fibre infrastructure in the country. Further, there is a need for active participation from states to achieve the objectives of the National Broadband Mission, which aims to take tower fiberisation in the country to at least 70 per cent by 2024. The above-mentioned industry recommendations should be strictly implemented if deeper fibre penetration is to be achieved.