India’s transport landscape is steadily turning greener, and one of the primary reasons is the increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs). According to JMK Research, the sale of EVs in the country crossed the two-million-unit mark in 2024, a significant 25 per cent jump over the 1.6 million units sold in the previous calendar year. Urban infrastructure, however, has struggled to match this momentum. Industry data shows that there is just one public charger for roughly 135 EVs, which is far below the global average of one charger for every six to twenty vehicles. With India aiming for 3.9 million EVs by 2030, a rapid scale-up of charging facilities is imperative. Multi-function smart poles, which combine power supply with communications hardware, can prove beneficial in offering a practical solution for hosting chargers and closing this infrastructure gap.

Smart poles and their multifunctional roles

For decades, street-lighting columns were single-purpose structures that provided only illumination. Today, they have evolved into sophisticated “smart poles” that sit at the heart of modern urban design. A standard pole now bundles LED lighting, closed-circuit cameras, EV charging points and high-speed connectivity. These smart poles represent a cost-efficient, scalable, shareable and mo­dular framework for deploying the whole spectrum of smart urban infrastructure. This encompasses the 5th generation small cells (in the form of cellular network densification), Wi-Fi hotspots, surveillance and traffic cameras, signage and information displays, air quality and flood monitoring solutions, charging points for two-and four-wheeler EVs and drones, along with renewable energy generation.

Smart poles and EV charging

EVs promise safer, less congested and cleaner mobility in an urban setting. However, they depend on reliable communications, widespread charging and seamless data exchange, which are basically the functions that smart poles are uniquely positioned to deliver. The implementation of 5G technology has allowed smart poles to perform a broader range of functions, resulting in significant growth potential for companies in the smart pole industry.

To support infrastructure development, the Ministry of Power has released guidelines that stipulate an exceptionally dense network of charging stations. Under the revised 2022-23 norms, every urban area in the country must host at least one public charging station every 3 km, while highways must provide one every 25 km, as well as a fast-charging facility for heavy EVs every 100 km. Achieving these ambitious benchmarks calls for innovative deployment models such as pole-mounted chargers. To boost the segment further, EV charging in India is categorised as a “delicensed” activity by the government, allowing any entity to establish their own charging points. This, in turn, broadens the market to a host of new entrants and permits private tower companies to deploy their own charging networks, without dealing with the regulatory complexities they typically face when installing telecom towers.

By providing convenient curb-side charging, smart poles encourage EV uptake and lower emissions. They also improve traffic management by collecting real-time data on vehicle flows, parking availability and road conditions. Each pole effectively serves as both a sensor node and an energy node, easing range anxiety while supporting smarter transport planning. Street-pole charging is particularly attractive in dense urban areas where power demand is high and real estate for traditional charging hubs is scarce. Upgrading existing lighting columns, therefore, offers a faster and cost-effective way to expand infrastructure.

Private infrastructure players are already testing the waters. Recently, in January 2025, Indus Towers announced that it will form a separate unit for building the necessary charging infrastructure for EVs, while its tower business will remain its primary driver. To this extent, the towerco has launched its own pilot EV charging stations in Gurugram and Bengaluru.

Scope of sharing and last-mile connectivity: Telcos’ perspective

Smart poles also present a compelling value proposition for telcos by serving as multi-purpose, shareable street-level infrastructure on which 4G and 5G radio units, small cells, fibre termination points and edge-computing modules can be mounted with minimal visual impact. The colocation of active network equipment on these poles, often alongside integrated, rechargeable power supply, allows operators to gain a cost-effective alternative to conventional macro towers, enabling rapid densification of urban and semi-urban networks, expanded backhaul capacity and lower signal dropouts. Further, multiple telcos can lease space for their radios and cabling, thereby sharing both capex and ongoing operations and maintenance costs, while local authorities benefit from streamlined permissions and reduced clutter.

This collaborative deployment model not only accelerates last-mile connectivity – extending high-speed mobile broadband to previously hard-to-reach neighbourhoods and rural fringes – but also positions telcos to capitalise on emerging revenue streams such as ultra-low-latency services, internet of things (IoT) backhauls and edge analytics, all delivered from a dense grid of intelligent, power-efficient street furniture.

SCM: Enhancing the lives of citizens

By 2023, roughly 7,000 smart poles had been installed under the Indian government’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM). Launched in June 2015, the SCM aims to raise quality of life in 100 designated cities across the country by providing reliable services, resilient infrastructure and healthier environments. As of 2025, several cities have already upgraded their pole networks under the SCM. Some noteworthy examples include:

  • Bhopal: One of the first movers, the city has rolled out 400 smart poles fitted with Wi-Fi hotspots, EV charging sockets, weather sensors, LED street lights and digital signage, laying the groundwork for an increasingly digital future.
  • New Delhi: The New Delhi Municipal Council has erected 55 energy-efficient poles in Connaught Place. Each incorporates air-quality sensors, adaptive LED lighting that dims automatically during off-peak hours, public Wi-Fi and mounts for 4G radios to bolster mobile-data coverage.
  • Vadodara: In Vadodara, Indus Towers Limited has collaborated with Va­dodara Smart City Develop­ment Limi­ted for the installation of 220 smart poles. These poles will connected through fibre and be integrated with the command-and-control centre.
  • Dehradun: Dehradun Smart City Limited has collaborated with a private firm to install 70 ground-based telecom sites (smart towers), 60 smart poles, and the laying of 100-km underground fibre network. The poles will provide Wi-Fi, energy-efficient lighting and CCTV surveillance, with the entire project planned to be executed under the public-private partnership model.
  • Other cities: Similarly, other cities, including Guwahati, Patna, Srinagar and Noida, have also established plans to set up smart poles to enhance their urban landscape and cater to the rapidly growing digital demand.

Challenges

Amid rapid adoption, digital infrastructure roll-out still faces several hurdles. Smart poles must be engineered for India’s harsh outdoor conditions, so the infrastructure of every device mounted on them needs to be robust, which means they should be capable of withstanding heat, humidity, rain and physical impacts.

Each application also has its own material demands. For instance, 5G small cell enclosures must allow radio waves to pass freely to preserve signal strength, while EV charger casings must be flame-retardant and highly resistant to heat and weathering to ensure user safety.

High installation and maintenance costs also remain a major obstacle to mass smart pole adoption. A single unit that combines LED lighting, surveillance cameras and communications equipment can cost Rs 0.3 million-Rs 0.5 million to deploy, depending on its complexity. For instance, in the case of Visakhapatnam, all 50 smart poles in the city, installed under the SCM, have not been used at all since they were set up. The primary issue is the substantial funding requirements to carry out the operations and maintenance of these poles, for which vendors have quoted an amount equal to Rs 800 million.

Progress is also hampered by a shortage of skilled IoT professionals. While dedicated training programmes are gradually skilling the talent pool, the gap still limits the speed and scale of nationwide roll-out.

Finally, sustainability principles, which include low carbon materials, energy-efficient electronics and provisions for end-of-life recycling, should be embedded in both the design and manufacturing stages, ensuring the infrastructure supports long-term green-city goals instead of adding to environmental pressures.

Outlook

India’s EV-charging market is poised for rapid expansion, creating significant opportunities for towercos and other service providers. Deploying smart poles across smart city projects can deliver the dense public charging network that mass adoption will require. According to industry projections, India could see about 1.33 million EVs on the road by 2030, accounting for roughly 20 per cent of total car production. Meanwhile, the country’s smart cities market is expected to reach $4.59 billion by 2029, and the domestic smart pole segment is forecast to grow at a 7.24 per cent compound annual growth rate to reach $3.04 billion by this period. Realising this potential will demand an integrated roll-out strategy that treats EV chargers and smart poles as a single urban asset class.

Continued policy support, interoperable payment standards, incentives for retrofitting legacy street furniture along high-traffic corridors and viability gap funding will prove critical to make business models bankable. On the technology side, advancements in modular pole design, lightweight composite housings and integrated battery storage systems are expected to cut installation costs and improve resilience. Together, these trends position smart poles as the digital and energy spine of India’s smart cities, underpinning not only mass EV adoption but also ubiquitous 5G coverage, real-time environmental sensing and efficient public lighting in the coming decade.