Digital Tomorrow: Infrastructure providers to assume a bigger role in driving next-gen technologies

Infrastructure providers play a pivotal role in infrastructure expansion for establishing ubiquitous connectivity for emerging technologies. They are now deploying next-generation infrastructure such as street-level smart infrastructure, intelligent poles, micro sites, in-building solutions and public Wi-Fi hotspots to make India digitally ready. The Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), the industry association for telecom infrastructure providers, recently conducted its annual general meeting (AGM) themed, “Infrastructure Providers 2.0: Making India Digitally Ready”. Policy and regulatory leaders deliberated on and emphasised the proactive role of infrastructure providers in facilitating the creation of robust telecom infrastructure for the smooth roll-out of newer technologies such as 5G, internet of things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Excerpts from the AGM…

Manoj Sinha

Over the past two de­ca­des, the connectivity-driven revolution has accelerated the growth of the Indian economy. The telecom sector has witnessed all-round growth owing to strong consumer demand. India’s mobile economy is growing rapidly and currently constitutes more than 98 per cent of all telecom subscribers.

The present government has initiated a slew of reforms like the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016, among others, to enhance the ease of doing business in the sector. As a result, the sector has attracted significant foreign direct investments (FDI), which is indicative of the telecom market’s attractiveness and regulatory certainty among global investors.

The tower industry has played a vital role in this journey, enabling the rapid growth of telecom subscribers, and the number of telecom towers has increased from 100,000 in 2006 to over 471,000 at present. The industry currently boasts a tenancy ratio of 2 and has over 1.8 million base transceiver stations installed on their towers. The tower industry introduced a unique infrastructure sharing model, which has many benefits such as reduced capex and opex, increased connectivity, faster roll-out and energy efficiency, which offers ready-to-go solutions to operators. It has helped in building a scalable, successful and proven business model that is being emulated the world over, including China. This is also a case study at the Har­vard Business School.

Data is emerging as the focal point of telecom growth in the country and we, at the helm of policymaking for the industry, are working at a brisk pace to ensure that communications’ connectivity reaches the remotest corners of the country and the Digital India vision becomes a reality. In this context, I can note with satisfaction that our bigger success story has been connecting the unconnected through Bharat­Net Phase I, which was completed in Dec­em­ber 2017, connecting more than 100,000 gram panchayats (GPs). The remaining 150,000 GPs are being targeted to be connected by March 2019.

Regarding the future, unlike 3G and 4G, India will not miss the 5G bus. When 5G is launched in the world, India will be at the forefront. Efforts have already begun to set up a test bed at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. The government is working extensively with academia and industry for launching 5G services in the country. A high level committee has held consultations with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), IITs and various other stakeholders. The committee is establishing a roadmap and the recommendations are under deliberation within the government. 5G will be necessary for evolutionary technologies like M2M, IoT, AR and VR, whose capabilities will extend far beyond the previous generations of mobile communication. Infrastructure providers will have a critical role to play as these new technologies will need high speed and high quality connectivity.

In order to ensure world-class and ubi­quitous connectivity, deployment of ro­bust telecom infrastructure is a necessity. Towers need to be connected by fibre, street furniture like small cells, Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as residential and commercial buildings need to be fiberised to provide all-round connectivity and ensure early adoption of new technologies.

We are ensuring that the policy framework is in keeping with the vision of Digital India. Broadly speaking, the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), 2018, which has been approved by the cabinet, is a forward-looking policy and will enable the sector to have a successful fu­ture. Our special focus is on fiberising of towers, which will enable newer technologies to come into play such as fibre-to-the-x and in-building solutions. Implementa­tion of smart city projects across the country will give a fillip to the way the telecom sector will enable everyone in their everyday lives through smart homes, smart traffic management systems, smart waste management, etc.

This wave of tremendous telecom growth being witnessed today owes itself to the phenomenal data growth and telecom infrastructure such as towers and fibre, which are going to be the bedrock that will enable high speed and ubiquitous connectivity.

The exemplary efforts of tower companies during natural calamities is worth applauding as this industry has ensured the quickest turnaround in some of the most difficult situations, be it the Mumbai rains, the Bhuj earthquakes and the most recent Ke­rala and the Northeast floods. The to­wer infrastructure industry, along with tele­com operators, has ensured connecti­vity to such severely damaged areas in the shor­test possible time. Even in the recent Kerala floods, infrastructure providers ensured connectivity, which helped families to stay connected with their loved ones, besides assisting in rescue operations.

The government is committed to providing world-class telecom services to its citizens and will do everything within its means to support this critical industry, which has so far played and will continue to play the role of an enabler for multiple other industries. Robust telecom infrastructure will help in the implementation of other programmes such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Make in India and Digital India.

N. Sivasailam

Addressing the right-of-way (RoW) issues is crucial for sector growth. There are two broad issues that need to be looked into. First, as long as the fibre is identifiable through a GIS system, it is possible to provide legal protection for that infrastructure. One of the advantages of GIS is that fibre becomes insurable.

Several business opportunities can be opened if the industry becomes serious about GIS. We still talk about high RoW charges, although in the current form, they are zero. There is no charge for RoW; only restoration charges are levied. Digging a road for laying fibre and not restoring it later is not acceptable. The NDCP, which has been approved by the government, mentions the government’s participation in hand-holding the industry in RoW implementation.

Dr R.S. Sharma

The NDCP is not really something that is just building upon the Tele­com Policy, 2012. It is a complete transformation in the sense that it clearly articulates its vision, mission and objectives in quantifiable terms, such as garnering investments to the tune of $100 billion and generating 4 million jobs.

It outlines objectives to connect India, which means building infrastructure, come up with innovations on top of that infrastructure and finally, secure India – applications must be secure as digital sovereignty must be maintained. It puts a lot of focus on infrastructure by creating a fibre authority. The policy also clearly lays down all that is required to prepare India for a digital tomorrow, for 5G.

As a nation, while we are transporting more data than the US and China put together; it is also true that around 93 per cent of this data gets transported on wireless networks and only 7 per cent is being transported through fixed line networks, which again, may not necessarily be fibre. So, there is a pressing need to create fibre infrastructure.

5G is a transformational technology in the sense that today telecom is just a vertical, but with the advent of 5G, it will be­come a platform on which all sectors will be hosting their applications. This plat­form will be important for health, education, irrigation, etc. 5G would require ro­bust backhaul networks and completely new business models. Today, telecom service providers offer end-to-end services but tomorrow, with the advent of 5G, multiple players will come to the fore as one cannot imagine a telecom service provider putting millions of sensors.

In such a scenario, the importance of infrastructure players cannot be ignored. The kind of innovations that this industry has made is path-breaking. Tower sharing is a great achievement and is accepted the world over today. I have always believed that it is possible to compete at the front end and collaborate at the back end. So it is possible to be competitors and still share that infrastructure. There are many more areas where one can build common infrastructure. For example, we should have a common duct whereby players are given open access and they can provide services. TRAI, on its part, will always support new innovative models to take things forward.

Besides regulating tariffs and quality of service, our role is also to provide appropriate recommendations to the government. We are now readying ourselves to consult with stakeholders on portions of the NDCP that require detailing.