DoT widens scope of active infra sharing to boost broadband penetration

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has amended the unified entry service licence (UASL) guidelines, widening the scope of active infrastructure sharing to give a boost to public WiFi companies and drive broadband penetration.

Under the amended Clause 33 (IV) of the UASL guidelines, “active infrastructure sharing related to WiFi equipment such as WiFi routers, access points and the sharing of backhaul” has been allowed.

Till date, active infrastructure-sharing between licensed service suppliers was restricted to antennae, feeder cables, Node Bs, radio entry community (RAN) and transmission techniques.

“The amendment will be part and parcel of UASL agreements, and will be effective with immediate effect,” DoT mentioned in a notification on Tuesday.

Four years in the past, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had known as on the DoT to amend licence guidelines to pave the way in which for active-infrastructure sharing for public WiFi companies, with an intention to boost reasonably priced broadband penetration.

It had particularly urged the division to difficulty a clarification that sharing of WiFi gear infrastructure reminiscent of WiFi routers, entry factors and backhaul be allowed, which might assist ship public WiFi optimally. This, since telecom service suppliers would have the ability to cut back each their capex and opex spends by sharing the related WiFi infrastructure.

Back in 2016, the DoT had initially permitted the sharing of active telecoms infrastructure like antennae, feeder cables and transmission techniques with an intention to velocity up community rollouts and decrease prices for telcos. Prior to that, telecom service suppliers have been solely allowed to share passive community infrastructure reminiscent of cellular towers.

Incidentally, the newest widening of active infrastructure sharing guidelines come simply over 4 months after the Union Cabinet had cleared a proposal to boost nationwide broadband penetration by means of the general public WiFi route utilizing unlicensed entities, one thing just like the PCO mannequin of yore.