In India, the landscape of broadband connectivity has evolved significantly, marking a new era of digital empowerment and inclusion. At the heart of this transformation is the National Broadband Mission (NBM), a visionary initiative launched to propel India to the forefront of the digital age. Further, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has undertaken other initiatives to expand digital infrastructure in the country.

National Broadband Mission

The NBM, launched on December 17, 2019, has set forth ambitious goals aimed at revolutionising the digital communications landscape in India. By accelerating the growth of digital communication infrastructure, the NBM envisions providing affordable and universal broadband access to all citizens, thereby promoting comprehensive digital growth and connectivity across India. Its objectives include increasing tower density, expediting right-of-way (RoW) approvals, laying optical fibre cables (OFC), enhancing tower fiberisation and streamlining state policies with the government’s RoW Rules of 2016.

The mission aims to provide broadband access to all villages by 2022, with a target of delivering high speed broadband of 50 Mbps to every user. Additionally, it aims to enhance network connectivity and quality of service.

Current progress

The NBM has transformed India’s digital landscape, making substantial progress since its launch. The number of broadband subscribers has increased from 660 million to 920 million, demonstrating a significant expansion in connectivity. The mission has woven a web of connectivity across the nation. Over 2.1 million km of OFC has been laid, facilitating high speed internet access. This rapid expansion has been further bolstered by the installation of an impressive 769,000 base transceiver stations (BTSs), with 597,000 of them now fiberised.

Remarkably, as of January 2024, 94.9 per cent of villages have been provided with broadband connectivity, bridging the digital divide and fostering greater connectivity in rural areas. Meanwhile, by March 2024, the mission had achieved a cumulative fiberisation of over 4.09 million km, solidifying the infrastructure backbone. This progress continues, with a cumulative 44.38 per cent of telecom towers now fiberised, paving the way for faster and more reliable internet access.

Key challenges

Despite these ambitious goals, broadband expansion in India faces several challenges. These include low proliferation and penetration of fixed line broadband, RoW issues and difficulties in rolling out telecom infrastructure. The digital divide persists, making it challenging to ensure broadband accessibility for all. Additionally, there are problems with low tower density and inadequate fiberisation. Furthermore, regulatory barriers, lack of coordination, investment shortfalls and an insufficient amount of focused interventions further complicate efforts to expand broadband services across the country.

Gati Shakti Sanchar portal

In May 2022, the Ministry of Communications launched the GatiShakti Sanchar portal, a centralised RoW portal, to streamline and transparently process RoW applications in real time. This innovative portal also features a dashboard for monitoring pending cases across India.

By April 30, 2024, the portal had approved a total of 145,073 RoW applications since its launch, significantly enhancing the efficiency and transparency of the application process.

Amended RoW rules

In 2022, the Indian Telegraph RoW Rules underwent significant amendments to streamline and standardise the process across the country. These amendments set the RoW charges for laying underground cables at Rs 1,000 per km for all states and union territories (UTs) except West Bengal and Kerala. The same rate now applies to aerial OFC, with a few exceptions such as Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Nagaland, Telangana and West Bengal. Additionally, restoration charges are now aligned as per the rates of the Central Public Works Department and state public works departments, with exceptions such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Nagaland, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

These amendments have facilitated policy interventions, such as simplifying clearances and wireless permissions for towers and introducing a straightforward application process with time-bound permissions for using street furniture. That said, the time required to obtain RoW permissions for towers and cables has been significantly reduced. In 2021, the process took an average of 64 weeks; by 2024, 20 per cent of applications have been processed within just 15 days.

Emergence of 5G and other developments

5G services were launched on October 1, 2022, marking a significant milestone in India’s digital journey. Following the launch, the NBM portal was updated to include 5G services, accompanied by a comprehensive road map with detailed state policies and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The state policy mandates alignment with the Indian Telegraph RoW Rules of 2016, sets guidelines for power consumption through discom policies and requires states to form working committees. This has led to the development of a 5G form and its integration with the PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal. Additionally, the policy for GIS mapping mandates the use of National Master Plan (NMP) portal mapping.

To further enhance telecom infrastructure, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued an addendum to the Model Building Bye-Laws of 2016, facilitating in-building access for telecom service providers. This aims to create common telecom infrastructure and in-building solutions, thereby contributing to smarter cities and reducing wire clutter in residential areas. By March 2022, 18 states and UTs had incorporated the provisions of this addendum.

Moreover, to improve coordination between excavators and asset owners, DoT, in collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics, launched the “Call Before u Dig” (CBuD) mobile app on May 22, 2023. India experiences around 1 million OFC cuts annually, leading to a wasteful expenditure of Rs 30 billion per year and causing significant inconvenience, tax losses and business disruptions. The CBuD app aims to mitigate these issues by connecting excavators and asset owners through SMS, e-mail notifications and a click-to-call feature, supported by a help desk. This initiative aims to prevent damage to various assets, including 3.9 million rkm of OFC and electric cables, thereby reducing tax and business losses, and minimising inconvenience to citizens.

PM GatiShakti NMP

As part of the PM GatiShakti NMP, by December 2023, approximately 1.2 million rkm of OFC from central public sector undertakings (PSUs) and 43,000 rkm from state PSUs and private entities have been mapped. Additionally, 779,000 towers and 2.82 million BTSs have been mapped as of November 2023, alongside street furniture from various states. Furthermore, there are 164,000 PM-WANI Wi-Fi hotspots in place as of December 2023.

Major telecom companies such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Limited are embracing DoT’s National Mapping Portal via an application programming interface to include their 1.22 million rkm of OFC on the NMP.

Projects by DoT

Several high-impact projects are currently ongoing or have been completed to enhance India’s digital connectivity. These projects include the 4G Saturation Project, the Amended BharatNet initiative, internet connectivity to Agartala through Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) in Bangladesh, 4G-based connectivity in 44 districts across India, and submarine OFC connections between Chennai and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as between Kochi and the Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).

The 4G Saturation Project aims to bring 4G mobile services to 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and challenging areas. Additionally, 6,279 villages that currently have 2G or 3G connectivity will be upgraded to 4G. This project is being executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) using Atmanirbhar Bharat’s 4G technology stack, and is being funded through the Universal Service Obligation Fund.

Under the Amended BharatNet initiative, the goal is to build a high speed broadband network infrastructure to provide broadband connectivity to all villages, including gram panchayats (GPs), and extend beyond GPs on a demand basis. Further, BSNL plans to deliver 15 million fibre-to-the-home connections across all states and UTs.

In September 2021, the project named “Internet Connectivity to Agartala through BSCCL” was completed. This project involved renting 10 Gbps of international bandwidth through BSNL to connect Agartala with BSCCL in Bangladesh via Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata. The aim was to provide high quality and high speed internet access to states in the north-eastern region of India, significantly enhancing their digital infrastructure and connectivity.

Additionally, a submarine OFC project between Kochi and the Lakshadweep Islands has laid approximately 1,891 km of OFC. Furthermore, the submarine OFC connection between Chennai and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands extends over 2,313 km. These submarine cable projects are crucial for providing reliable and high speed internet connectivity to these island regions, significantly enhancing their digital infrastructure.

Need for common duct

To minimise frequent digging and excavation, DoT has issued guidelines for laying common ducts. This approach reduces costs for the nation and eliminates the need for multiple RoW permissions. It is also beneficial for the environment.

Based on a presentation by Amit Kumar Chauhan, Director, NBM, DoT