COAI lauds the recommendations released by TRAI on the use of street furniture for small cells and aerial fibre deployment

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has lauded the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the use of street furniture for small cells and aerial fibre deployment. The industry body believes that these comprehensive and forward-looking recommendations will help expedite the rollout of 5G across India.

As per COAI, the recommendation that DoT should issue advisory to states for mandating that owners of street furniture should share these assets with TSPs/IP-1s for deployment of small cells, subject to structural stability, will enhance the scope for deployment of 5G infrastructure in an expansive manner. Further, all the central government entities have been recommended to earmark dedicated spaces in their existing and planned buildings for installing digital infrastructure, thereby enhancing network presence.

TRAI has also recommended that charges paid by one TSP to the other for sharing of infrastructure should be allowed as deduction from Gross revenue for the purpose of levy of Licence Fee. According to COAI, this is a positive step that will incentivise sharing and rollout of infrastructure.

The measures suggested by TRAI for simplification of Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA) approvals and self-certification for electro magnetic field (EMF) will go a long way in helping service providers roll-out their services.

The recommendation regarding provision of electricity connection under Utility/Industrial tariff, one application for bulk processing of connection requests for multiple sites and one-bill one-payment policy for the entire telecom sector will enable all the sites to be adequately powered all the time, thus ensuring uninterrupted services to the consumers, the industry body noted.

Meanwhile, according to COAI, TRAI’s recommendation regarding expansion of the scope of the National Broadband Mission (NBM) committee by monitoring the deployment of small cell on street furniture is poised to provide impetus to the roll-out of 5G in the country.

Lastly, COAI believes that the recommendations by TRAI are wide-ranging and is expected to have a positive impact on roll-out of digital infrastructure in the country.