India Lags in Building Out Fiber to the Tower

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India is behind in building out fiber to the tower, a key to 5G buildout. Currently, only 34 percent of cell towers in India are backhauled using fiber optics. That number contrasts with other developing countries, such as Thailand at 90 percent and Malaysia at 80 percent, and so-called developed countries — U.S., China, and Japan, which have surpassed an average of 75 percent tower fiberization. And the Indian government wants to do something about it.

The Indian government has called for 70 percent of all towers to have fiber backhaul early in 2024, according to the Economic Times of India. The government is considering setting up the National Fiber Authority (NFA) to help carriers to roll out 5G and 4G services. Streamlining regulations on use of the public right-of-way (ROW) might be an area where they get involved. 

Lt. Gen. Dr S. P. Kochhar, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) noted that not only is fiber not available, but the government has yet to allocate high capacity backhaul spectrum. 

There are a lot of challenges for building the telecom infrastructure, which starts with the ROW rules and permissions, according to Tanay Singh Thakur, Editor-in-Chief, Telecom Talk. “Many states have misaligned ROW rules from that of the Indian Telegraphy ROW rules in 2016. Further, the permissions need to be fast-tracked to ensure the infrastructure can be developed and set up aggressively by the telcos,” Thakur wrote.

 But the Indian wireless market is complicated. First, large swathes of 5G spectrum have yet to be auctioned, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended about a 39 percent reduction in the reserve price, Inside Towers reported. Without fiber to the tower, carriers have less urgency to buy 5G spectrum.

“Fiberization is essential. It is essential for 5G and only about 30 percent of our towers are fiberized. Adequate fiberization is required so that it would not be a waste of spectrum resources, which is very highly priced,” Kochhar said.

A floor price of $97.5 billion is being considered for spectrum in a mega-auction in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz bands.

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

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