Evolution of ICT Infrastructure Industry in India India has one of the fastest growing telecommunications sector with over 1.1 billion connections and is the second largest in the world1. The communication services available in the country are comparable to the best in the world and major technology shifts like 3G, 4G/LTE have been adopted in line with the developed world. The sector continues to grow rapidly and is amongst the largest contributors to the Indian economy s GDP and is also one of the significant contributors to FDI in India. The foundation of this landmark growth has been possible only through an extensive Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) infrastructure across the country. Initially ICT infrastructure deployment was largely driven by the need to provide affordable voice telephony services. The growth of ICT infrastructure sector has been linked to the adoption of a unique business model of passive i.e. Tower infrastructure sharing. The model is meant to drive efficiencies and synergies and the era of multiple operators allowed that to happen very successfully leading to upfront savings in Capex and time to market. This model has been adopted across several geographies globally.
Initially ICT infrastructure deployment was largely driven by the need to provide affordable voice telephony services. The growth of ICT infrastructure sector has been linked to the adoption of a unique business model of passive i.e. Tower infrastructure sharing. The model is meant to drive efficiencies and synergies and the era of multiple operators allowed that to happen very successfully leading to upfront savings in Capex and time to market. This model has been adopted across several geographies globally. Currently, we are witnessing an era of explosive growth in data and investments in newer technologies like 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine to Machine (M2M), data centers, mobile applications and cloud technologies are taking place. Additionally, the Indian Government has initiated several programmes such as Digital India, Smart Cities and BharatNet to ensure data connectivity for the masses and to connect the unconnected. The success of these programmes and adoption of new technologies is highly dependent on the rapid deployment of reliable and sustainable ICT Infrastructure that provides uninterrupted and quality services at breakthrough speed. Although there is no single, universal definition of ICT infrastructure, in the present form, it can be defined as a combination of all passive and active networks, fibre and associated equipment needed to provide voice and broadband data connectivity.
The key players in this sector include the Telecommunication Service Providers (TSP), Telecom Infrastructure Providers (IP-1s), equipment manufacturers and fiber players. ICT infrastructure can be broadly divided into two types Core and Enabling infrastructure. Core infrastructure includes all the hardware needed for network deployment and connectivity. The enabling Infrastructure would include all the software needed to enable the core infrastructure to charge up and work to deliver the services to customers. Indian ICT infrastructure began with an era of limited connectivity and has evolved significantly to cater to a billion plus population. Today, the country can boast of a teledensity of 89 per cent supported by a tower network of over 450,000 towers as well as fibre network of over.125 million kilometres. Further, smart phone penetration which currently stands at over 27 per cent is set to grow to 70 per cent by 2019. There has been substantial addition to 3G and 4G subscriptions in the last year and mobile broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants is currently higher than reflected in India s low global ranking of 156 as per the United Nations and International Telecommunications Union report of September 2016.
However, there is still a lot of catching up to do in terms of broadband access and speeds with 17 per cent penetration in mobile broadband3 i.e. with speed over 512 kbps as against 2Mbps and above for most of the countries. India s teledensity in mobile internet in rural is abysmally low at 12.98 per cent. Source: TRAI press release number Press Release No. 03/2017, http://www.telecomlead.com/broadband/internet-penetration-rural-india-pathetic-trai-reveals-73076 ICT infrastructure has been playing a significant role in overall socioeconomic development globally. Countries such as U.S., U.K., China and Malaysia have committed significant investments to the growth and deployment of ICT infrastructure. Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com, Akamai q4-2016-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-report, ITU_S-POL-BROADBAND.17-2016 Some of the key learnings for India include: Collaboration within industry through PPP models to speed up the roll out of ICT infrastructure and drive wireless broadband penetration Focused investment by Governments beyond in fibre in newer technologies such as 5G, IoT, cloud services and data centers etc. Streamlined, consistent and implementable policies with single window clearances and provisions of deemed approval e.g. RoW to reduce the cost and time of laying down of the network Centralised planning of township through use of GIS mapping with single unified web platform such as implemented in the U.S. and the U.K. Implementation of building byelaws and common standards for ICT infrastructure roll out
The dig once policy proposed to be implemented by the U.S. administration would reduce the number and scale of repeated excavations for the installation and maintenance of broadband facilities in RoW The ICT infrastructure industry with support from the government and regulatory bodies has played a pivotal role in the spread of affordable telephony services and a sustainable business model for ICT infrastructure roll out would be fundamental for the success of key Government initiatives such as Digital India, Smart Cities, BharatNet as well as digital payments. A robust ICT infrastructure is also critical for attracting investments in the latest technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine to Machine (M2M), data centers, mobile applications and cloud technologies etc. The ICT infrastructure industry therefore will be at the forefront of the new emerging environment and in ensuring a global competitive edge for the Indian industry. The Government of India and TRAI have taken several key policy initiatives in recent years to provide an impetus to the ICT infrastructure sector. A few of these initiatives are: Right of Way Rules, 2016 which streamlines the installation of overground and underground telecom infrastructure. Deregulation of FDI by allowing 100% FDI in all Telecom services including ICT infrastructure. Allowed sharing of active telecom infrastructure including transmission systems.
Uniform guidelines to states for ease of installation of telecom towers. TRAI has recommended amendment in rules to enable public Wi-Fi. DoT s EMF awareness outreach programs conducted in six major cities across India. The industry on its part has also contributed significantly to support Government of India s program by: Investments over USD 50 billion have been made by the ICT infrastructure industry over the past decade which has been at the forefront of the growth in the telecom sector in India. operationalisation of over 20 per cent diesel free sites. in 2006 to around 4,50,000 towers at present. 800.000 KMs. efficiency and reduce network downtime. Reduction of carbon footprint by promoting green sites with Quadrupling of Telecom Tower footprint from 1,00,000 telecom towers Faster roll out of optical fibre network across the country in-excess of Increased technology deployment around Tower Operations to drive The network uptime has been consistently maintained at levels of 99 per cent and above. These initiatives, though noteworthy, would require further policy interventions and follow ups to meet the Government of India s ultimate objectives of Digital India, Smart Cities, Bharat Net and Digital payments etc.
OBJECTIVES Recent Government Initiatives Universal access to mobile connectivity Facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education and e-banking Broadband highways Affordable broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps for all households Smart cities mission to cover 100 cities (FY 15-16 to FY 19-20) National Telecom Policy Provide secure, affordable and high quality telecommunication services to all citizens Increase rural teledensity to 70 per cent by 2017 and 100 per cent by 2020 600 million broadband connections by 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speeds Making available high speed broadband connections of up to 100 Mbps a reality by 2020 High speed and quality broadband access to all village panchayats and habitations by 2020 There is, therefore, a need for a fundamental shift in policies and regulatory environment to facilitate common telecom infrastructure roll out and make the business model sustainable for promoting greater investment in this sector. The following policy interventions would be required to achieve the above stated objectives: Clarity on policies applicable to the ICT infrastructure sector. Currently there is a policy for IP-1s which allows them to provide passive infrastructure for TSPs. There is also a license option of Unified License/Virtual Network Operator (UL/VNO) available for industry to provide services to end consumers. While the common telecom infrastructure has been mentioned in the UL/ VNO license, there are no comprehensive policies for the industry to provide end to end ICT infrastructure. Further, while active infrastructure sharing has been
permitted by the government, in the absence of end to end policies, an ecosystem to support this sharing is not getting created Recognition to the ICT infrastructure industry in line with infrastructure status for prioritization and availability of associated privileges such as availability of uninterrupted power, single window clearance, defined timelines for approvals and deemed approvals based on time clock, have not been made available. Uniformity of policies across Center, State and Municipal bodies to prevent ICT infrastructure providers from being subjected to multiple fees, levies and taxes as it leads to deployment delays and enhanced costs Expedited rollout of the DoT guidelines /RoW rules 2016 in order to accelerate the tower roll-out and include IPs in the Row Rules as they have been at the forefront of laying down the telecom infrastructure across the country Further, while active infrastructure and spectrum sharing has been allowed in principle, regulatory framework to kick start an ecosystem for ICT infrastructure players to provide shared and integrated active and passive services defined as Common Telecom Infrastructure to the Service Providers is much needed. ICT infrastructure is the backbone for the industry and hence there is also a need for a dedicated policy for setting up and running ICT infrastructure. Government support and an enabling regulatory environment would be critical as this shapes the decision making for the key players in terms of investments and initiatives.
This article is taken from the recently released report by CII "Building ICT Infrastructure - Connecting the Unconnected". If you are a subscriber of MyCII, you download this report for free, CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MYCII