With the 5G roll-out nearing completion, operators are now focusing on improving performance and using higher bands to deliver the speeds 5G was meant to provide. However, higher-frequency spectrum covers shorter distances, which increases the need for dense networks and, in turn, smart street furniture. Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, “street furniture” includes any post or pole used for electricity, street lighting, traffic lights and signs, metro lines and pillars, signboards, hoardings, kiosks and utility poles that are accessible to the public.

In India, the push for smart infrastructure under programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) has led to thousands of smart deployments. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have been early adopters, using public-private partnerships to install connected street assets.

Key segments of smart street furniture

  • Smart poles: These are multi-purpose poles fitted with 4G/5G small cells, Wi-Fi hotspots, CCTVs, digital displays and internet of things (IoT) sensors. They often replace or upgrade existing streetlight poles and add features such as LED lighting, environmental monitoring, safety alarms and, in some cases, electric vehicle (EV) charging. By hosting telecom equipment at the street level, smart poles reduce the need for new towers and can also be solar-powered to cut reliance on the grid.
  • Intelligent street lighting: Upgrading conventional street lights into smart lights is a major focus. This typically involves using LED lamps with IoT controllers for remote monitoring, adaptive dimming and fault detection. India’s national programme has replaced over 13 million street lights with LEDs, reducing energy use by up to 50-70 per cent and lowering annual emissions.
  • Edge nodes and connected infrastructure: Smart street furniture can host edge computing and networking equipment that supports connected city services. 5G small cells are a key example, as they can be installed on lamp posts, traffic signal poles or building facades to densify coverage. Since higher-frequency 5G needs dense networks, using street furniture is faster and more cost-effective than building new towers.
  • Connected street fixtures: Beyond poles and lights, cities are deploying other connected fixtures. Smart traffic signals use cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to adjust timings based on vehicle flow and reduce congestion. Digital kiosks and bus shelters offer services such as free Wi-Fi, directions and emergency calling; for instance, Bhubaneswar’s solar kiosks allow citizens to pay bills, book tickets and access city information.

Last-mile connectivity and services

Smart street furniture contributes in extending connectivity and services to the last mile. By using existing street-level assets, service providers can close the final gap in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, connected street furniture can bring high-speed coverage into dense neighbourhoods and public spaces where building new towers or fibre-to-the-home is difficult. Public Wi-Fi hotspots on street poles or smart kiosks allow people to access broadband in parks and on footpaths, and over 104,000 Wi-Fi hotspot zones were live across India by 2025 under programmes such as the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface and SCM. Similarly, 5G small cells mounted on lamp posts act as the last hop, delivering faster wireless data to smartphones and IoT devices in busy city centres.

In less dense rural areas, last-mile connectivity often depends on combining fibre backbones with wireless links. Smart street furniture is supporting this model. Under BharatNet, fibre typically reaches the village council centre, after which Wi-Fi and mobile small cells mounted on poles distribute internet access to nearby homes and users. Even a basic solar-powered smart pole can host a 4G/5G small cell or Wi-Fi access point, alongside LED lighting and phone charging.

EV charging and street furniture

With EV adoption rising, cities are also increasingly using street furniture to expand charging access by retrofitting streetlights and poles with charging points. This is seen as a practical urban solution because these assets are widespread, already connected to power and located where vehicles typically park, allowing networks to scale without dedicated charging hubs. The Ministry of Power’s revised 2022-23 guidelines also call for dense coverage, with at least one public charging station every 3 km in urban areas and every 25 km on highways, plus fast-charging for heavy EVs every 100 km, which strengthens the case for pole-mounted chargers. Further, EV charging is a delicensed activity in India, allowing any entity to set up charging points, widening participation and enabling private tower companies to deploy charging networks with fewer regulatory hurdles.

Emergence of edge data centres

To maximise the benefits of smart street infrastructure and 5G, edge data centres are gaining pace. Many are being set up in Tier II and III cities to support growing digital services such as telemedicine, online education and regional content delivery. This approach repurposes public infrastructure and supports smart city programmes through local computing for surveillance analytics, storage and faster access to government e-services. Edge data centres are also being deployed at telecom network sites such as base station towers, central offices and large street-side cabinets, enabling multi-access edge computing by bringing processing closer to users and devices.

Government and industry Initiatives

To promote smart street infrastructure, the government and regulators have introduced several measures. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a draft manual on May 13, 2025, to assess and rate properties for digital connectivity under the Rating of Properties for Digital Connectivity Regulations, 2024. It also recommended in 2024 that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) consider directing universal service providers to share passive infrastructure with at least two other telecom service providers on transparent, non-discriminatory terms, though DoT rejected this suggestion, as noted in a March 2025 document.

TRAI has also been pushing reforms for street-level roll-outs. In November 2022, it released recommendations on using street furniture for small cells and aerial fibre, calling for stronger security monitoring and better coordination when multiple providers seek access to the same assets. It also proposed a national fibre authority to oversee above-ground telecom infrastructure, discouraged exclusive contracts to ensure fair access, and suggested pooling street infrastructure across central and state bodies.

Alongside this, the Telecommunication Act, 2023, and the Right of Way (RoW) Rules, 2024, have created a clearer framework to streamline approvals, encourage infrastructure sharing and speed up deployments by reducing costs and simplifying RoW applications.

The 100 cities selected under the SCM have also supported large-scale pilots and roll-outs. Deployments have ranged from AI-enabled traffic signals in Gurugram to smart poles, solar kiosks, smart benches and sensor-based waste bins. Meanwhile, telecom infrastructure providers and operators are scaling investments in street assets, with tower companies working with municipalities to deploy multi-purpose poles for cellular equipment, and Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expanding small cell deployments on street furniture to improve 5G coverage and capacity.

Infrastructure sharing

Sharing smart street infrastructure like poles, fibre routes and small cell sites also helps reduce costs. Instead of each telecom company installing its own equipment on every pole, they can use shared infrastructure, just like they already do with telecom towers. The government and TRAI encourage this by promoting open access and discouraging exclusive rights to public street furniture. The new RoW rules and neutral host models further support shared use, making it easier for multiple operators to use the same poles or ducts. This not only reduces city clutter but also supports fair access for all providers.

Bottlenecks

Even with all the benefits, installing smart infrastructure on public streets still faces several challenges. Getting approvals from different civic bodies can be slow and complex, even with new RoW rules aiming to simplify it. High upfront costs, lack of power or fibre at some locations and maintenance issues add to the difficulty. Further, cities also need to ensure that poles are strong enough and that equipment does not spoil the area’s look. Public resistance, vandalism and safety concerns are other hurdles.

Outlook

Over the next 12-24 months, smart street furniture in India is likely to shift from scattered pilots to more repeatable, city-wide roll-outs, especially in high-traffic corridors where 5G coverage needs densification. The big push will come from better RoW implementation, faster approvals through single-window systems, and wider use of aerial fibre to connect street-level sites quickly. The market will also move towards shared models, where neutral hosts or city special purpose vehicles deploy smart poles and lease space to multiple operators, making projects financially viable. Intelligent lighting will remain the easiest “entry point” because savings are measurable, while EV charging and edge nodes will expand where demand is clear and power availability is strong. The winners will be cities and vendors that lock in strong operations and maintenance, cybersecurity and performance-based contracts, rather than one-time installations.