Countries are increasingly appreciating the varied use cases of small cells and working towards policy frameworks that would ease their deployment to pave the way for 5G implementation. Re­ce­ntly, GSMA released a paper, “Pa­ving the way for 5G readiness in India: A guide for effective policymaking on small cell de­ployment”.

The aim of this paper is to propose policy recommendations to ease the de­p­loyment of small cells, which is an essential step towards countries becoming 5G ready. In the paper, GSMA discusses the current scenario of small cell deployments in India, identifies key bottlenecks, including right of way (RoW) permissions, and suggests the way forward for policymakers. A look at the key findings of the paper…

Legacy mobile networks are dominated by macro cells. These are large cells typically mounted on a mast or a rooftop in cities and towns, with a range of kilometers, served by a high-powered cellular base station. In contrast, small cells vary in their range, power levels, form factors, etc. de­p­ending on the use cases. They can be in the form of femtocells, picocells and microcells/metrocells that are used in residential, enterprise, urban and rural environments.

Today, small cells are particularly significant due to their usage inside buildings as well as in underground transportation. Their usage also extends to populated ur­ban areas and isolated villages. While the deployment of small cells has been a critical part of 4G network upgrades and expansion, it will become even more critical for 5G networks because of the introduction of higher spectrum bands that necessitate denser network deployments to support larger traffic volume per unit area.

Indian scenario

In India, the National Digital Communi­ca­tions Policy, 2018, aims to create a ro­bust digital communications infrastructure by 2022. It recognises digital communications infrastructure and services as the key en­ablers and critical determinants of India’s growth and well-being. Thus, it is imperative to facilitate infrastructure creation.

RoW permissions have been identified as one of the key challenges in rolling out te­le­com infrastructure. In 2016, the Tele­com Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) enacted the RoW Rules, but they did not yield the expected ease of roll-out and cost benefits. India is also reportedly fa­lling behind the National Broadband Mission targets due to delays in RoW clearances.

In fact, TRAI released its recommen­da­tions on broadband connectivity on Aug 31, 2021, identifying broadband infrastructure creation as an important area. Some key recommendations proposed by TRAI were the creation of a national portal for RoW permissions; exemption of RoW charges for the next five years; and setting up of a centrally sponsored scheme to incentivise states/union territories (UTs) for RoW reforms. Furthermore, TRAI suggested the need for a proper regulatory framework to support the deploy­me­nt of small cells, which will pave the way for 5G deployment. It emphasised that this policy/framework should have st­an­dardised guidelines for small cell size, power, space, etc. to make street furniture ready to deploy small cells.

In October 2021, the Indian government further introduced amendment to the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016, to incorporate the provisions related to nominal one-time compensation and uni­form procedure for establishment of over-ground telegraph lines. Earlier, the rules had covered only underground optical fibre cable and mobile towers.

While these are some welcome steps for India, there is a glaring absence of sm­all cell deployment in the RoW regulatory framework.

Challenges faced by stakeholders

To understand the issues in the Indian ma­rket, GSMA conducted a short survey with stakeholder companies in India to examine the challenges they face on the ground. These include:

  • Absence of a regulatory framework on sm­all cells: The present RoW rules are silent on small cell deployment and access to street furniture.
  • Lack of backhaul availability: There is a shortage of adequate backhaul at reasonable costs, which creates significant limitations in deployment.
  • Lack of electrical power supply: Per­mits from electricity boards are a cha­ll­enge. Additionally, street furniture need power backups.
  • Permits from residential bodies: Small cells need to be deployed in residential areas, many of which are gover­ned by residential welfare associations. These are self-regulatory bodies and it has been challenging to receive permits from them as they are not governed by existing rules.
  • Non-uniform implementation of RoW rules by states and municipal bodies: The RoW rules are yet to be implemented by all states, union territories and municipal bodies. Many of them continue to impose their own costs and approval frameworks, which are on the higher side.
  • High permit fees: The lack of implementation of rules at the local levels leads to high and non-discriminatory fees.
  • Lack of sustainable infrastructure in select areas: In densely populated ur­ban areas, especially marketplaces and co­ngested areas such as metro cities, it is challenging to get access to adequate street furniture for deployment.

Key suggestions

Considering the challenges outlined by stakeholders, the paper lists the following suggestions to speed up small cell deployments…

  • Amend RoW rules to incorporate provisions on small cell deployment
  • Ensure uniform implementation of RoW rules across states, union territori­es and municipal bodies
  • Reduce approval timelines for small cells to 15-30 days with automatic deemed approval after 30 days (through online portals)
  • Effectively use spare capacity on existing backhaul networks, and consider exis­ting residential and business fibre netwo­r­ks for potential use in small cell backhaul
  • Encourage sharing of passive infrastructure to reduce costs
  • Ensure grid availability for electrical power supply, availability of smart poles at no/nominal costs for small cells, subsidised rates by electricity boards for small cells
  • Reduce permit fees in comparison to macro cells
  • Streamline application processes, appro­v­al on batch/group basis, and deploy di­gital tools for processing

Benefits of streamlining the process for small cell deployment in India

Small cell deployment and RoW contri­bute significantly to enhancing the broadband connectivity of a country. This is likely to attract much more foreign direct investment (FDI) in a country that already struggles with such incentives due to low ARPU and high regulatory costs. Further­more, it will allow India to harness the potential for 5G, driving the post-pandemic recovery and contributing to India’s efforts for becoming a $5 trillion dollar economy.

The way forward

Net, net, the paper outlines a few key steps to be considered for facilitating the dep­lo­yment of small cells in India. These in­clude:

  • Adopting simplified and streamlined pro­cedures for building/street furniture permits for small cells based on standar­dised size, installation requirements and radio characteristics.
  • Designing guidelines to facilitate the ac­quisition of new sites and greater tra­ns­parency on available assets such as towers, buildings and other structures.
  • Granting easy access to existing street furniture such as traffic lights, bus stops and street lamps.
  • Encouraging state electricity boards/distribution companies to ease permits for usage of their poles for deployment.
  • Exempting small cell installations from location registration requirements un­le­ss necessary for other reasons.
  • Implementing uniformity in grant of ac­c­ess to public spaces/structures for ins­ta­ll­ing small cells across states and local bodies.
  • Updating the RoW Rules, 2016 to in­cl­u­de deployment of small cells.
  • Ensuring uniform implementation of the RoW Rules, 2016 by all the states and union territories.
  • Reducing permit costs for small cells relative to those for macro cells.
  • Facilitating access to electrical power, ha­ving a nearby power source for the wire­less equipment to function.
  • Facilitating deployment of backhaul at lower costs.
  • Ensuring access to spectrum and provision of adequate spectrum bands for ba­ckhaul with wider channel sizes in millimeter wave (such as E-Band) to augme­nt capacities and improve site planning.
  • Promoting stronger collaborations between industry and governments such as creating a nationwide small cell information exchange (SCIX), a digital platform that would hold real-time information about availability, backhaul connectivity, monthly rent, and permit status for infrastructure capable of hosting sm­all cells.
  • Adopting a whole-of-government app­roach for RoW and small cell permits (if applicable) given the various gov­ern­ment departments involved in the permit process.