The proliferation of next-generation technologies such as internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), and rising smartphone penetration in India have led to an unprecedented surge in the demand for high speed and ubiquitous connectivity. To support this burgeoning demand for network connectivity, the country’s telecom infrastructure needs to be augmented substantially. However, scaling up of the communications infrastructure is a major challenge owing to multiple issues involved in deploying additional tower sites, such as need for right-of-way (RoW) permissions from various authorities and exorbitantly high costs of installation. In this context, small cells have emerged as promising alternatives to expand the infrastructure backbone in areas where it may not be geographically possible or economically feasible to add more towers and base stations.
However, the small cell deployment in India currently stands at an extremely low rate in comparison to global markets due to the lack of appropriate locations for deployment. Hence, the government is considering the use of street furniture for the installation of small cells. Street furniture would include street lights, electricity and other utility poles or any other street-level infrastructure that can house wireless equipment, mainly small cells, to enable the telecom player’s toolboxes to bring their networks closer to end customers.
Policy and regulatory initiatives
The main objective of street furniture is to use various spaces in municipality buildings, post offices, bus and railway stations for the deployment of infrastructure that is critical to the success and adoption of 5G on a large scale. With 5G gaining ground, small cells are expected to support features like ultra-reliability, low latency, ultra-high speeds and massive connection densities. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released a consultation paper that seeks to give a fillip to small cell deployment in the country by exploring the potential of installation on street furniture such as utility poles, billboards, lamp posts, traffic signals and bus stops. The paper outlines how most countries are in the process of studying and initiating small cell architecture for 5G roll-outs. Meanwhile, several international bodies are involved in providing resources for developing and creating easy-to-deploy 5G small cell ecosystem.
In a major move, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), following a proposal from a state electricity board, is considering using street furniture to densely deploy next generation 5G telecom infrastructure and overcome RoW challenges. To this end, DoT has formed a committee to review the availability of street furniture, particularly the strength of electricity poles, and the air speed to see if they are capable of being leveraged for a seamless 5G network. Besides, DoT is in the process of formulating an affordable annual fee structure for the use of street furniture for 5G infrastructure deployment. As per DoT, the draft of the street furniture policy is almost ready and would be finalised once TRAI’s recommendations on its consultation paper on the same issue are out.
Key impediments
While the use of street furniture for installing small cells holds promise, several issues need to be addressed before street resources could be optimally utilised for this task. First, given the fact that street furniture comes under the jurisdiction of various public and private authorities such as municipal bodies, smart city administrations, state and central government departments, railways, airports, ports, metros and stadiums, a fast and cost-effective RoW process needs to be put in place to ensure that timely permissions are granted to telecom infrastructure companies for using street resources.
Further, to make the street furniture suitable for deploying small-cell networks, it must be able to accommodate power, antennas, and associated fibre and other cabling equipment. To this end, the administrative authorities will have to ensure the presence of electricity and proper backhaul facilities at any street furniture earmarked for deploying small cells. Moreover, for street furniture that is still under construction or in the planning stage, city authorities and telecom infrastructure companies need to come together to ensure that its design is apt for successful small cell deployments.
The way forward
Notwithstanding the challenges, there are positive drivers for using street furniture to deploy small cells. The policy and regulatory push for this is also quite strong. Recently, the union cabinet approved simplifying the Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations (SACFA) clearance process for installing low power base transceiver stations including small cells (microcells, picocells, femtocells) on existing street furniture/below the height of existing structure/ window-sills of a building, etc. To this end, the requirement for a formal application for SACFA processing is done away with for such low power BTSs. Moreover, the telecom service providers rolling out BTSs on the existing infrastructure shall be charged a nominal fee of Rs 100 per small cell. The move is expected to augur well for future 5G roll-outs in the country.
