Digital Infrastructure Provider Association (DIPA) has welcomed the decision of the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) to adopt the deemed approval clause through an online portal, aligning with state right of way (RoW) guidelines and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) RoW Rules 2016. DIPA appreciates the efforts of ELCOT, IT Department of the government of Tamil Nadu, and TERM-Tamil Nadu of the DoT for their continued support.
The government of Tamil Nadu had notified their RoW Policy Telecom Infrastructure Policy, 2022 in January 2022. DIPA had done a written submission to the government of Tamil Nadu on August 1, 2023 for the adoption of deemed approval clause as per notified Tamil Nadu Telecom Infrastructure Policy 2022. DIPA appreciates that ELCOT has accepted the long-pending demand for the adoption of online deemed approval.
Commenting on the development, TR Dua, Director General, DIPA said, “DIPA believes that expeditious and timely deployment of telecom services including 5G services across the state is the need of the hour. This entails installing small cells on existing infrastructure and street elements such as poles, bus shelters, street-lights, etc. Adoption of the deemed approval clause by ELCOT will ensure prompt permissions and fix accountability for both the applicants and the approving authority. This initiative will ensure the speedy roll-out of digital Infrastructure across the state.”
The Indian telecom sector currently hosts 1.17 billion mobile users, achieving a teledensity of 84.51 per cent. This is supported by 760,000 mobile towers and approximately 2.64 million base transceiver stations (BTS) installations. As of March 2023, over 3.7 million km of optical fiber cable (OFC) have been deployed, facilitating connectivity for 832.2 million broadband users in addition to mobile subscribers.
Beneath the umbrella of the BharatNet initiative, a total of 177,550 gram panchayats (GPs) have been prepared to deliver services by June 2022. This project’s scope has been extended to encompass all inhabited villages beyond GPs across the country. The vision is to achieve broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps by 2024-25, while also achieving fiberisation in up to 70 per cent of telecom towers/BTSs by the same timeline. Additionally, there are plans to map 1 million route km of optical fibre cable (OFC) laid by the public sector units (PSUs) on the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) Portal.
DIPA’s endeavours continue as it engages with the remaining states, the National Broadband Mission (NBM) team, licensed service areas (LSAs), and the DoT to replicate the successful process nationwide.
