Operators call for clarity on fibre installation rules

Telecom industry players have called for the government to develop uniform guidelines on the approval process for installing fibre-optic cables at an open forum hosted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Economic Times reports. Right of Way (RoW) permissions, required to build fibre-optic infrastructure, are currently regulated by multiple local agencies with huge variations in cost, making deployment expensive or unviable in some areas. Representatives from a number of operators have requested that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) treat optical fibre infrastructure as a resource of national importance and issue uniform guidelines to facilitate faster RoW clearances and more reasonable charges. Such measures would help encourage the installation of fibre systems, which are crucial to meeting the rising demand for data services, the operators claimed.