Govt notifies rules to relax telecom infra rollout fees, documentation

The Department of Telecom has notified an amendment in rules to ease the rollout of communications networks by fixing a nominal one-time fee for overground cables at Rs 1,000 per kilometre and waiving all other fees other than administrative and restoration charges.

The notification has also simplified documentation for laying overground telecom cables.

"The Central Government has notified the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on 21st October 2021 to incorporate the provisions related to nominal one-time compensation and uniform procedure for establishment of Overground Telegraph Line in the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016," an official statement said.

It said there will be no fee other than administrative fee and restoration charges for establishing, maintaining, working, repairing, transferring or shifting the underground and overground telegraph infrastructure.

"These amendments will ease Right of Way Related permission procedures for establishment and augmentation of Digital Communications Infrastructure Across the country," the statement said.

Industry body Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) said optical fibre is a fundamental and structural part of both mobile and fixed broadband networks, and faster rollout of fibre is important for backhauling a large amount of data at high throughput, improving reliability, and reducing latency.