Mandatory Tower Sharing: A Key Step Towards More Efficient Telecom Sector

This shift is critical for the 5G era, where high RAN costs necessitate collaborative strategies. Sharing towers, especially in rural areas, can address connectivity gaps and lower carbon footprints

Infrastructure sharing by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) reduces carbon footprints of telecom industry, brings down costs to the TSPs, enables them to expand the services with the money saved and focus more on marketing of their services, ensures better Quality of Service (QOS) delivery and leads to optimum utilisation of national resources. It enables TSPs to compete on service innovation and technology rather than solely on signal coverage.

Infrastructure sharing will lead to lowering of tariffs by the TSPs, because of reduced costs, benefiting the consumers ultimately. Infrastructure sharing also benefits the consumers by increasing the choice of TSPs as entry and expansion by the TSPs becomes easier and speedier.

Infrastructuring sharing can be sharing of passive infrastructure (buildings, towers, cable ducts, dark fibers. Right of Way, Data Centre resources, power plants, battery sets and DG sets) and sharing of active infrastructure. Sharing of passive infrastructure is already allowed. Presently sharing of active infrastructure is limited to antenna, feeder cable, Node B, Radio Access Network (RAN), transmission systems only. India has emerged as one of the pioneers in infrastructure sharing.

TRAI has now recommended sharing of all active infra elements including core network elements. Active infrastructure sharing (excluding spectrum), can bring 33-35 per cent savings in capital expenditure and 25-33 per cent in operating expenses whereas passive infrastructure sharing can bring 16-35 per cent savings.

5G network deployments necessarily need infrastructure sharing

RAN costs constitute the largest portion of the costs of the cellular network deployment and operations (60 per cent up to 4G). 5G uses higher frequency radio spectrum (26-28 GHz) for high data rate applications. At this frequency, coverage distance is less, more cell sites are required and so RAN costs will be more than 60 per cent, necessitating sharing of passive infrastructure to reduce costs.

Technical Enablers for infrastructure sharing

NFV (Network Function Virtualization) and SDN (Software Defined Networking) in cellular networks could accelerate mobile network sharing. NFV and SDN enable the use of commodity hardware in place of physical equipment and all instances of network entities are virtualized and exist as logical entities.

Tower sharing

In India since 2006, TSPs are sharing towers through the Mobile Operator Shared Tower (MOST) initiative. Presently the average BTS (Base Transmitting Station) density per tower is 3.09 with approximately 7.76 lakh towers supporting 23.96 lakh BTS units.

BSNL initiated the process of selling 10,000 towers (70 per cent of them are fiberised) to Telecom Tower companies who will lease out these towers to private TSPs for provisioning of 5G services. BSNL can also lease the towers from these tower companies for their 4G/5G services. BSNL can share/lease towers which were earlier used for Microwave links, with other TSPs. As highrise buildings are not there in rural areas, Ground Based Towers (GBTs) are required to provide cell services. Erection of GBTs is a costly proposition. So, sharing of GBT erected by one TSP with other TSPs is an economically viable option. Compared to other TSPs, BSNL has more GBTs in rural areas.

Tower sharing- it's impact on reduction of carbon footprint

Sharing of passive infrastructure by the TSPs has reduced the overall carbon footprint of the telecom industry. It has led to over 25 per cent reduction in energy intensity in the case of sharing by two operators, 40 per cent in the case of sharing by three operators and 45 per cent in the case of four.

TRAI recommendations in April 2024 on active infrastructure sharing

DOT through its letter dated 07.12.21 had requested TRAI to provide recommendations on allowing sharing of core network elements such as MSC, HLR, IN etc. among TSPs.

In April 2024, TRAI recommended that TSPs should be allowed to share all types of active infrastructure elements owned, established and operated by them. It recommended creating a separate category under the unified license, for Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Provider (DCIP) authorisation.The proposed DCIP authorisation holder may create both active and passive digital connectivity infrastructure and share it with other TSPs and has to pay no license fee to the government.

In the future projects of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is rechristened as Digital Bharat Nidhi in the Telecommunication Act 2023, DOT should include a provision in the agreement with the Universal Service Provider (USP), that the USP shall not refuse to share the passive infrastructure laid by it under the project with at least two other TSPs on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis. This recommendation is aimed at extending the benefits of telecom coverage in underserved areas to more than one TSP through effective utilisation of government funded infrastructure.

In the already assigned projects of Digital Bharat Nidhi, DOT should explore the feasibility of issuing instructions to the USPs, that a USP shall not refuse to share the passive infrastructure laid under the project with at least two TSPs on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis.

In the interest of consumers a TSP, which has built mobile network infrastructure in the remote and far-flung areas of the country with full or partial funding from the government under Digital Bharat Nidhi, should be mandated to allow roaming to other TSPs on its network in such remote and far-flung areas initially for a period of three years. This will reduce the hardship being faced by the subscribers due to connectivity issues of the home network provider. Through these recommendations, the TRAI has also provided the essential terms and conditions for the implementation of the above recommendations.

Way forward

It is hoped that the Digital Communication Commission (DCC), the highest decision making body of the DOT, will accept the TRAI recommendation made in the month of April 24 on active infrastructure sharing among the TSPs.

Sharing of towers among the TSPs should be made mandatory and DOT LSA units should enforce tower sharing regime so that no TSP can refuse to share its tower. Some people have the misconception that radiation from towers cause health issues and so they oppose the erection of towers by the TSPs. Though DOT tries to educate the citizens on this aspect, sharing of existing towers and avoiding erection of new towers, as far as possible, obviates this opposition to erection of towers.

In the rural areas, roofs of centre/state/ local bodies buildings should be allowed for the erection of roof top towers and sharing of these towers among all the TSPs should be allowed. This is because in rural areas tall private buildings may not be available for the erection of roof top towers.

In case of natural calamities, DOT allows Intra Circle roaming among the TSPs. DOT should encourage such roaming in normal circumstances also, till the sharee TSP builds its own network. Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) should be encouraged so that competition is introduced in the telecom market without building additional networks. This business model has not taken off till today. DOT should examine the reasons for the same and formulate suitable policies.

DOT should act as facilitator in passive/active infra sharing among the TSPs in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of infrastructure. Sharing of infrastructure leads to win-win situations for both anchor TSP as well as sharee TSP; anchor TSP will have a new, assured revenue stream and sharee TSP will save money as it need not build new infrastructure.

(The author is Former Advisor, DOT, Government of India, Bangalore.)