COAI lauds Rajasthan govt for reduced cost in laying OFC

COAI, the representative body for the Indian telecommunications industry, lauded the efforts of the Rajasthan Government to reduce the charges for laying of Aerial OFC and Underground OFC. This will help in the speedy laying of aerial OFC and fast track 5G rollouts across the State leading to a digitally connected and more advanced Rajasthan.

The Government of Rajasthan has issued an order dated February 01, 2022 has further reduced the charges for laying of Aerial OFC to INR 1,000/- per pole annually, INR 2,000/-per manhole per chamber at District Headquarters & INR 1,000/-per manhole per chamber in other towns, making the roll-out of Optical Fiber Cable more cost-effective for the future.

“We thank the State Government of Rajasthan for reduction of charges for laying of Aerial OFC and Underground OFC. Telecom Service Providers desire to foster the development of a robust network infrastructure that will support digital applications and ensures speedy network connectivity throughout the state. Our members are making aggressive investments in digital network infrastructure, and optic-fibre cable holds a major share of telcos’ in overall digital infrastructure. This reduction in charges by the Government of Rajasthan will further facilitate the speedy roll-out of telecom infrastructure to make Rajasthan Digitally more advanced,” said Lt. Gen. Dr. SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI.

Rajasthan was the first state to issue an Order dated February 06, 2017, wrt establishment & operations of telegraph equipment’s in the State of Rajasthan superseding the erstwhile policies/Government orders, in line with RoW Rules issued by Department of Telecommunication vide gazette notification dated November 16, 2016. The policy encourages the deployment of Tower, Underground OFC, Aerial OFC, CoW, Micro Site, Small Cell, IBS, etc. that are essential to improve the digital connectivity across the state. The policy also supports the regularisation of the existing Telecom Infrastructure that will contribute towards the GDP growth of the state.

This order will further help to realisation of the ‘Gati Shakti’ vision by meeting the targets set under National Broadband Mission Targets, increasing the Broadband penetration, providing internet & Broadband services to the citizens, improving the connectivity and capacity, and developing a robust Telecom/Digital Infrastructure in the State.

CT Bureau