(a) the number of fiberised towers in the country against the total number of telecom towers in the country;
(b) the planned investment by the Government towards increasing fiberisation of telecom towers;
(c) whether the Government proposes to employ an incentive structure for telecom operators in order to encourage the growth and penetration of fibre infrastructure;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND
ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) Sir, various Telecom Service Providers fiberise their network at any specific tower site. As per details provided by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) total no. of 2,19,949 TSP sites out of total 7,06,948 TSP sites have been fiberised.
(b) to (e) The infrastructure and equipment used for providing mobile communications, belong to various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and the decisions regarding providing connectivity to the TSP sites through fiber or through other means is taken based on various techno-commercial considerations including network capacity required at that particular physical site (tower).
Further, Government is facilitating the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for laying fibre by means of addressing Right of Way (RoW) challenges and creating a collaborative institutional mechanism between Centre, States and Local Bodies for Common Rights of Way, standardisation of costs and timelines; and removal of barriers to approvals.
Further under BharatNet, which is one of the biggest rural telecom projects of the world, as on 30.05.2019, 3,33,195 km Optical Fibre Cable has been laid connecting 1,28,118 Gram Panchayats by Optical Fibre Cable (OFC).