Absence of Comprehensive Mobile Tower Policy Will Delay the Rollout of 5G in Karnataka: TAIPA

TAIPA (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association), the industry association for leading telecom infrastructure providers such as Bharti Infratel, ATC towers, GTL Infrastructure, Reliance Infratel, Indus Towers and Tower Vision, today highlighted that the draft policy of Karnataka, known as “Telecommunication Infrastructure Towers Regulations, 2015” is pending for notification since 2016. The telecom policy impedes the development of a robust telecom infrastructure across the state, and the delay is also denting the Digital India Mission, a visionary flagship programme by the Narendra Modi-led government. TAIPA says that the enormous delay will impede addressing the growing data demands and roll out of futuristic technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality and Artificial intelligence etc.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

The draft tower policy, which is pending for notification for more than two years imposes issues such as restriction on the location of towers such as restriction on the location of mobile tower installation, requirements of multiple documents and NOCs, non-availability of Government land & buildings, exorbitant high fees ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000, lacks provision for the deployment of in-building solutions and Cell on Wheels etc.

While on the other hand, the Centre Government have been active on the development of a robust telecom infrastructure which is evident by the notification of the Right of Way rules, 2016. The policy has enabled features such as no restriction on the location of telecom towers, single window clearance mechanism, defined time-period for approvals, the appointment of Nodal officers, nominal administrative fees and deemed approval etc. extensively supporting the Digital India mission.

The draft Karnataka tower policy is not aligned with the Right of Way rules, 2016 issued by centre government.

While highlighting the issue, Mr Tilak Raj Dua, Director General, TAIPA said “The state of Karnataka should align its draft policy with the Right of Way rules issued in November 2016 by the Department of Telecommunication to ensure deployment of critical telecom tower infrastructure. Issues such as call drops, network outage and connectivity gaps etc. are being faced by the users’ due to the absence of comprehensive mobile tower installation policy. We hope the new government will certainly address these issues and facilitate robust telecom infrastructure in the state.”