The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday allowed sharing of active infrastructure by telecom service providers. The move would enable the operators to cut costs in network roll out and pass on the savings to consumers by way of cheaper tariffs.
Issuing the guidelines on infrastructure sharing, DoT said that, ?sharing of active infrastructure amongst service providers based on the mutual agreements entered amongst them is permitted. Active infrastructure sharing will be limited to antenna, feeder cable, Node B, Radio Access Network (RAN) and transmission system only. Sharing of the allocated spectrum will not be permitted,? DoT said in a statement.
Earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended that active infrastructure sharing amongst operators should be allowed.
Commenting on the development, Tata Teleservices said, ?TTSL welcomes DoT?s progressive move to allow active infrastructure sharing. This move will significantly bring down the cost of rolling out telecom network infrastructure resulting in lowering of tariffs and increase in telecom penetration?.
?We welcome the government?s initiative of sharing of active infrastructure. We believe this is yet another positive step by the government to improve the penetration of telecom services, particularly in rural areas. It will also provide the industry with an opportunity to bring down its operating costs and hasten network rollouts. Above all the customer stands to benefit the most in terms of better quality and enhanced affordability,? Manoj Kohli, president and CEO of Bharti Airtel said.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the lobby of the GSM operators, lauded the forward looking guidelines notified by DoT on Infrastructure sharing. ?The provisions such as sharing of active infrastructure, further simplification of procedures, enhancement in scope of the USO subsidy support scheme, etc would herald a significant acceleration in the growth and expansion on networks and coverage leading to more speedy rollout and delivery of cost effective services in both urban as well as rural areas,? T V Ramachandran, director general of COAI said.
COAI also hailed the provision that state governments would be requested to charge same amounts for setting up of the shared tower at par with unshared tower as this would give a much needed thrust to the sharing of resources in the telecom sector.
DoT has said that the licensing conditions of unified access services licenses and cellular mobile service providers will be suitably amended wherever necessary to permit such sharing.
DoT also simplified the procedure to reduce the time for clearance to erect towers and antennas to about 45 days. Sites located beyond 7 km from Airport Reference Point (ARP) and the antenna height not exceeding 40 meters from airport level need only to be ?registered? on Wireless Planning Coordination (WPC) Website and clearance to be issued accordingly.