A ‘Proper of Means’ (RoW) debate has damaged out between the telecom ministry and a clutch of key ministries — from defence to highway transport and railways — over the fees to be paid to be used of presidency land for creating telecommunication infrastructure important for nationwide 5G rollout and the Bharatnet challenge for rural tele-connectivity.
With almost 500 tasks caught over the problem, the telecom ministry is getting ready to go to Cupboard to make sure that different stakeholder ministries solely levy nominal prices for laying of the optical fibre community and organising of poles, ET has reliably gathered.

This can, typically, require modifications within the guidelines/subordinate laws of the opposite ministries and therefore the necessity for Cupboard approval.

T gathers that the majority of the 500-odd telecom/optical fibre challenge caught are associated to defence land — both in border areas or cantonments.

Not less than a 100 of those caught tasks are held up because of the quantum of levies on the different three ministries, officers conscious of the matter informed ET.

MORTH, as an illustration, is searching for levies to the tune of 10% of the land’s market worth from the telecom ministry citing its rule books whereas the Ministry of Railways is learnt to have looked for close to 6% of the market worth of the land and advance cost at yearly charge for 10 years.

The Ministry of Surroundings & Forests additionally brings in Internet Current Worth (NPV) prices that are imposed to be used of forest land.
Officers in a few of these ministries stated that whereas authorities to authorities contracts involving ROW weren’t a problem, the scenario modifications in case of involvement of the non-public sector.
Bharatnet is being carried out within the Public Non-public Partnership (PPP) mode.
“We’re not authorised to permit use of our land by profit-making non-public gamers on the throwaway costs that are being sought. The Cupboard has to allow it and authorise us to take action. The matter is beneath dialogue,” a prime official concerned within the inter ministerial deliberations informed ET.

Alternatively, the telecom ministry cites the federal government mandate to succeed in connectivity to the remotest areas within the nation.

In communication despatched to a number of ministries and states in April, the division has famous that there are nonetheless ‘inconsistencies in RoW associated charges and procedures throughout the nation’.

It drew consideration to the ‘excessive prices and procedural delays in RoW permissions’ and the way these ‘impede the event of telecommunications infrastructure affecting the provision of enough telecommunication infrastructure and therefore, hamper provision of telecom companies at inexpensive costs’.

“For profitable pan India 5G rollout, an enormous variety of poles would must be erected for deployment of small cells. As well as, the prevailing avenue furnishings would additionally must be explored for deployment of small cells,” the division wrote within the communication.

“Whereas most state governments have aligned their rulebooks and prices and levies to the draft Proper of Means coverage pointers of 2016, we face issues with just a few central ministries. Due discussions have been held and the choice to maneuver a cupboard proposal is beneath lively consideration to resolve it,” an official with information of the problem stated

“For example, IPTV permission is granted by DoT as well as MIB. For policy decisions, there are multiple authorities like DoT, MIB, Ministry of Electronics and IT, and Department of space,” he said.

With technological advancement, it is now possible for broadband networks to offer broadcasting services and vice versa. “With the content consumption in India increasingly shifting to smartphones and video consumption becoming the key driver of mobile data growth in India, it becomes imperative to bring direct broadcasting capabilities to mobile phones. It is anticipated that broadcast

As boundaries are blurring between the broadcasting and telecom sectors due to the advent of digital technologies. There is a need to revisit the licencing framework and governance structure to ensure orderly growth of broadband, broadcasting and IT sector, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman PD Vaghela said on Wednesday.

He said whatever regulatory framework should be light-touch, formulated and government should regulate only if required. Redefining the role of market players such as service providers, infrastructure providers and cable operators is required for the new market structure. “In addition to the telecom and broadcasting, the over-the-top (OTT) world may also be required to be factored in while carrying out required reforms,” Vaghela said during a conclave organised by IIT Kanpur and Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI).

“A robust and holistic technology-neutral regulatory and policy framework is required to regulate the newly converged environment of broadcasting and broadband services. Secondly, the policy should also align the corresponding business processes with regard to the issuance of all broadcasting and cable service licences for better synergy and ease of doing business,” he said.

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said legal backing for Right of Way (RoW) will be in place by December, and launched the GatiShakti Sanchar portal that will centralise and speed up approvals for laying of fibre and tower installations, as the country gears up for 5G roll-out.

The GatiShakti Sanchar portal will facilitate centralised Right of Way (RoW) approvals.
That will be our next step. Moreover, all the portals that are there, especially Gati Shakti portal, railway portal, highway portal, and others…integration of those…We will be working on these two technological and legal aspects,” Vaishnaw said.
Work has started on these two fronts already, and the integration of portals is expected in the next 3-4 months while the timelines for providing legal backing is December-end.

Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) Director-General, TR Dua said, “The launch of this portal is a game changer and another milestone for the telecom industry, with faster rollout of digital infrastructure across the nation and cutting down the earlier delays”.

Starting 15-June-2021, the telecom service providers are mandatorily required to connect only those new devices designated as ‘Trusted Products’.

The government on Tuesday has launched the Trusted Telecom Portal — http://www.trustedtelecom.gov.in — signalling the coming into effect of the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector (NSDTS).

Consequently, with effect from Tuesday (June 15), the telecom service providers (TSPs) are mandatorily required to connect only those new devices designated as ‘Trusted Products’ from ‘Trusted Sources’, the National Security Council Secretariat said in a statement.

The Cabinet on December 16 had accorded approval for the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector, which was to come into effect after 180 days of the date of approval.

The government has made a necessary amendment regarding the license conditions for the provision of telecommunication services by the TSPs.

The portal was developed and implemented by CDoT, an R&D unit of the government.
“The challenging task was completed on schedule despite the debilitating effect over the course of the pandemic on the development team of CDoT, the hosting provider RailTel, dedicated staff of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the supporting stakeholder representatives from the TSPs and equipment vendors,” the statement said.

Trusted Products
‘Trusted Products’ are products whose critical components and the products themselves are sourced from Trusted Sources. The TSPs will be provided access to log into the Trusted Telecom Portal and indicate the telecom products and the vendor they intend to procure the products.

The details of these vendors, the products, their critical components and their sources are then populated into the portal by the TSPs and respective vendors, who will also be provided access to the portal. An assessment is made of the vendors and the sources of the components to determine Trusted Sources and Trusted Products which are then intimated to the vendor concerned and the applicant TSPs to make their procurements.

However, the directive does not envisage mandatory replacement of the existing equipment already inducted in the networks of the TSPs. Therefore, it will also not affect ongoing annual maintenance contracts (AMC) or updates to existing equipment already inducted in the network as on date of effect of the directive. Hence no disruption to the existing networks will be created due to this Directive, the statement added.