At a time when all the telecom operators are looking for help with the RoW permissions, it is a commendable thing that Manipur has granted all of them. In doing so, Manipur has become the first state in the country to clear all the RoW permissions that were pending.
TR Dua, Director General, Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), said that representatives of DIPA were making enormous efforts with the Manipur government for the alignment and the implementation of the RoW Rules in November 2016 through the joint meeting and more.
Today, there are zero pending RoW applications in the state which is a good sign for the telecom infrastructure development in the country.
Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal Being Emphasised Upon
Much recently, the telecom minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, had inaugurated the Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal for speeding up the RoW approvals in the country.
The industry bodies and the telecom operators have largely been affected due to not getting RoW permissions in time in several states. The government of India had introduced a central RoW policy, but there are a few states which still don’t follow it.
However, to ensure that the 5G rollout is a success, the RoW applications need to be approved fast by the state governments across the country. Thus, the new Gati Shakti Sanchar portal will act as a medium to bring transparency into play and oversee which states are lagging behind with the approval of RoW applications.
Because of forming their own RoW policies and not following the one released by the central government, the state governments were charging exorbitant amounts of money from the telcos for approving RoW applications. But in the last year, many states have adopted the RoW policies of the central government.
But India still has a long way to go when it comes to telecom infrastructure, and the online RoW applications portal will definitely make a positive impact on the business journeys of the telcos.
