Telecom infrastructure in India may soon get disaster-resilient standards

CDRI is working with telecom players to ensure sector's infrastructure is less vulnerable to natural disasters

Telecommunications infrastructure in the country will soon have international standards that will make these resilient in times of natural disaster.

Power infrastructure in the country already follows statutory standards for safety but telecommunications does not. As part of the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has initiated discussions with the telecom players — Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea — to develop standards for the sector.

Kamal Kishore, member, NDMA, said loss of towers was only 3 per cent during the Cyclone Fani earlier this year. But that was because