The industry has come a long way in realising and accepting the importance of optical fibre cable (OFC) as a critical part of an operator’s network. Gone are the days when a few kbps of band­width were sufficient for meeting customer demands. Today, the demand for higher speeds and capacity is driving the fiberisation of operator networks. Given the way the data ecosystem is evolving, the industry is beginning to realise that fibre is the future of telecom.

BSNL’s OFC status

The OFC network is a very important aspect of BSNL’s strategy and we have been laying OFC in almost all cities and tehsils. Currently, our OFC network covers 650,000-700,000 Km and this network is increasingly expanding. We are playing a key role in the BharatNet project wherein the extension of cables has been done using BSNL’s expertise. Besi­des, BSNL also has big plans in the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) space.

Until a few years back, we were laying only 24-fibre cables, but now we have scaled up to 48 and are considering even higher fibre counts. We are also focusing on the fiberisation of towers and nodes, and our overall OFC will go up in the near term. The demand will also be driven by big-ticket government projects that have been entrusted to us. For instance, we are executing the Network for Spectrum and BharatNet projects.

We have a main transport network as well as an intercity network across the – North, East, South and West regions. These regions have an intercity network of close to 225,000 km. Our intra-city network is also around 200,000 km and then we have the network connecting the tehsils, which is also about 200,000 km. BSNL, being the only state-run operator, has been providing services in rural and semi-urban areas where other operators may not be very keen to enter due to less economic viability.

Going forward, with 5G in mind, BSNL will have to build a more robust ac­cess network in every city with high capacity fibres of 288 or even 576 count.

Fibre sharing and leasing

We are leasing OFC from Oil India Limited in the Northeast where we do not have substantial infrastructure. We are using their network, located alongside their gas pipelines. We are also leasing bandwidth from PGCIL.

Also, we have recently started sharing our OFC network with cable operators in select cities. Although we are very new in this space, we are focusing on it in a big way and have set a target of leasing out around 50,000 OFC to other entities. We are open to sharing our network with service providers, infrastructure IP-1 providers, cable operators and multiple system operators. We are also open to bandwidth leasing.

Experience and lessons from BharatNet Phase I

Initially, there were some coordination issues between Bharat Broadband Net­work Limited and BSNL, which delayed the implementation of Phase I. However, once these were resolved, the project took off at a fast pace. Infrastructure has already been laid in about 125,000 gram panchayats and will reach 250,000 gram panchayats by March 2019.

Phase I has been a learning experience. BSNL is now doing all its work on the en­gi­­­­­­neering, procurement and construction ba­­­sis and hopefully, this time, the roll-out will be very fast. Also, BSNL will oversee the maintenance of the networks that it lays.

In terms of a vendor ecosystem, our experience has been extremely good, be it for BharatNet or for our own in-house programmes. Significant investments have been made by the industry in procuring raw mat­erial. However, our only request to the OFC industry is to make the products more affordable and economical. Telecom operators are bleeding financially but network expansion is also the need of the hour. Sig­nificant investments are required to roll out and expand networks.

Challenges and the way forward

While fibre roll-out has picked up pace across the industry in the past two years, there is still a lot of scope for fiberisation. There is always a question of capex involved for rolling out infrastructure. There are two parts to the capex required for OFC roll-out – one is the cost of the cable itself and the second is the cost of obtaining right of way (RoW). We have been paying exorbitant RoW charges to municipal corporations as well as the local bodies and state highway authorities. RoW has clearly been a very big issue for the industry, and the policy formulated by the government in this regard is a positive step. However, now it is up to telcos to form a group or association and approach every state government to make them understand the importance of an OFC network as well as its revenue potential. There were some issues regarding the grant of RoW during the implementation of BharatNet’s Phase I, but the DoT’s intervention helped in making the states understand the criticality of network. The government’s job is to frame a policy but the onus of its implementation lies with the other stakeholders too.

Based on the views of K.L. Lakhmani, Principal General Manager, BSNL