According to Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), telecom connectivity should be made a part of common ducts inside new buildings. Further, he added that amendments should be made in guidelines to provide telecom connections to new buildings, similar to providing water and electricity connections.
Mishra was speaking at the “Connect India: In-building Solutions” workshop organised by the Broadband India Forum. He added that smart roads are already being built in smart cities where there is a common duct which carries all kinds of cables and connection services and provision of common duct is preventing roads from damages.
In this regard, the secretary has already held discussions with town and country planning organisation to make provisions for telecom connectivity.
Meanwhile, S.K. Gupta, Secretary, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that minimum standards need to be developed for provision of telecom services within buildings and residential complexes. Further, he added that the mindset that telcos should pay to get access for laying down infrastructure in housing complexes must change. “Different type of builders, their associations and resident welfare associations (RWA) have to be taught about the importance of telecom and need to be convinced that they have to change their mindset of penalising telecom service providers by asking for money from them to provide the services,” Gupta said.
