Telecom Operators Seeking Uniform Guidelines for Laying Optical Fibre

Advertisement
By Press Trust of India | Updated: 19 June 2014 20:16 IST
Telecom Operators Seeking Uniform Guidelines for Laying Optical Fibre
Telecom industry has asked the government to continue its policy of allotting microwave access and backbone radio-frequency carriers without auction, besides pitching for uniform guidelines on providing permissions for laying optical fibre.

In an open house discussion organised by sectoral regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on "allocation and pricing of microwave access (MWA) and microwave backbone (MWB) RF carriers", various players of telecom industry conveyed that microwave is a supporting infrastructure and it should not be auctioned but be made available at lower prices.

Microwave technology is widely deployed by operators to provide point-to-point radio frequency links in mobile networks.

"Microwave is only a supporting infrastructure for mobile backhaul and should be made available as cheap as possible to facilitate cost effective spread of mobile services," Bharti Airtel said in its comments to Trai on the consultation paper on the issue.

Advertisement

The meeting was chaired by Trai member RK Arnold and representatives from Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Vodafone amongst others presented their comments during the open house consultations.

Advertisement

Reliance Jio also said that MWA and MWB carriers should be assigned administratively and not through auction. The players also sought a uniform policy for getting approvals related to laying of optic fibre network.

Advertisement

Currently, fibre Right of Way (RoW) permissions are regulated by multiple local agencies and there is huge variations in cost, which makes fibre laying extremely expensive or non-viable in many urban areas.

The players asked the government that fibre be treated as resource of national importance and there should be uniform governing guidelines from Department of Telecom (DoT) on the subject to facilitate faster clearances and reasonable RoW charges across the country.

The telecom operators said it will encourage laying of optic fibre which is very important given the increasing demand for data.

The Trai had in March this year released a consultation paper on the issue asking for comments of stakeholders. The DoT had asked Trai to furnish recommendations for allocation and pricing of microwave access (MWA) and microwave backbone (MWB) radio frequency carriers. Microwave carriers in the frequency bands of 10GHz and beyond are called MWA carriers and below 10GHz are called MWB carriers. All voice and data signals - conversations, SMSes, video downloads -travel through the backhaul network.

Trai through the consultation paper had raised specific issues for consideration of stakeholders such as number of microwave carriers need to be assigned to telecom operators in case of 2G, 3G and BWA technologies, preferred mechanism of assignment of MWA/MWB carriers like administrative assignment or assignment through auction.

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Our Fault OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch Final Chapter of Culpables Online?
  2. Best Smartphones Under Rs 25,000 in India: Check List
  3. OnePlus 13s Launched in India: Know Price, Specifications and More
  4. Redmi Pad 2 With 9,000mAh Battery Launched in Global Markets: See Price
  5. OnePlus 13s Review
  6. AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 May Get New Head Gestures, Camera Control, More
  7. OnePlus Pad 3 With 12,140mAh Battery Launched in India: Check Features
  8. OnePlus 13s vs iQOO 13: Price in India, Specifications Compared
  1. Hugging Face Releases SmolVLA Open Source AI Model For Robotics Workflows
  2. Redmi Pad 2 With 9,000mAh Battery, MediaTek Helio G100 Ultra Chip Launched: Price, Specifications
  3. Alphabet CEO Expects to Keep Hiring Engineers as AI Advances
  4. Amazon Said to Be Preparing to Test Humanoid Robots for Deliveries
  5. Google Doubles Gemini 2.5 Pro Rate Limit for Google AI Pro Subscribers
  6. Apple Said to Have Given iPhone Repair Business to Tata India as Partnership Expands
  7. Huawei Pura 80 Pro, Pura 80 Pro+ Design Teased; Pre-Reservation Begin
  8. Mistral Code AI-Powered Coding Assistant Introduced for Enterprise Developers
  9. Nothing Headphone 1 Launch Date Set for July 1, to Arrive Alongside Nothing Phone 3
  10. Ethereum Foundation Announces Overhauled Treasury Strategy Amid Scaling Push
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.