Quality of telecom service to suffer in Delhi due to NDMC new norms: DIPA

Quality of telecom services will deteriorate in central Delhi due to the new norms notified by New Delhi Municipal Corporation, telecom infrastructure body DIPA claimed on Saturday.

Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) has opposed the charges for existing and new mobile towers as well as multiple layers of clearances on case to case basis notified by NDMC on June 22.

"The quality of telecom connectivity is definitely going to be impacted and may also get deprived due to the restrictions imposed by the NDMC," DIPA said in a statement.

NDMC has notified Rs 2 lakh non-interest bearing refundable security deposit at the time of initial granting of permission.

Besides security deposit, NDMC has notified one-time permission charges in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh for rooftop base stations.

For ground base tower, NDMC has increased one time permission charges to Rs 3 lakh for 5 years from Rs 2 lakh earlier and notified Rs 25,000 for pole-based sites for five years.

According to the policy notified by the centre, telecom companies are required to pay only Rs 300 per pole in urban areas.

"It is very unfortunate that despite various representations made by DIPA, NDMC has issued a policy which is totally non-implementable," DIPA Director General TR Dua said in the statement.

He urged NDMC Chairperson and Member Amit Yadav to take immediate action to amend this NDMC Policy dated June 22, 2023, and implement a Uniform Right of Way policy that is fully aligned with the RoW Rules of 2016 and its subsequent amendments.

"The charges mentioned therein both in respect of existing as well as for future towers are too high, and the conditions are too stringent. Although the initial policy mentions a single window clearance, it later introduces several agencies and committees for approvals on a case-to-case basis," DIPA said.

The industry body, which represents companies like Indus Towers, ATC etc, said that it has made several submissions requesting the alignment of Delhi NCT RoW policy with the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (RoW) Rules, 2016, and amendments notified in in it by the Department of Telecommunications.