Social distancing with staying at home has been our strategy to control the spread of COVID-19. Although this works out to be the best way to keep ourselves safe, businesses have suffered humongous losses with plants and offices shut down. During the lockdown, telecommunications has emerged as a lifeline to everyone. We rely on telecom services to connect with our loved ones to know about their well being, and at the same time, we run our banking, e-commerce, and other crucial public services.

<\/p>

Our data consumption has grown and home Wi-Fi networks are operating at enterprise levels, we need higher network capacities to keep business continuity in these uncertain times as there has been a surge in data consumption.

<\/p>

Telecommunication services \u2013 Now one of the necessities

<\/strong><\/p>

With the shift to take everything online, our homes are transformed into remote offices, virtual conference rooms, online schools for children, and video streaming hubs for the entertainment of family members. Everybody must be having a reliable internet connection to ensure their utmost efficiency, and telecommunications services have the onus of serving the invisible force behind this to happen.

<\/p>

Since the lockdown was announced in March 2020, our telecom industry has worked relentlessly to fulfill our demand for increased data connectivity. It has successfully enabled 30-35% of the GDP in the lockdown out of over 54% of the total services sector contribution.

<\/p>

Service challenges

<\/strong><\/p>

Cellular Operators Association of India reported that consumers of mobile and home broadband services, especially those in urban areas, have seen their network speeds slow down by around 20% during the pandemic because of an up to 30% surge in consumption on average, especially of videos. Telecom regulators expect to increase the average monthly per-user data consumption by 15% in the next six months from the current 10.37 GB. This higher consumption of data demands higher bandwidth, which has put a strain on India\u2019s lacking fiber infrastructure.

<\/p>

The current National Broadband Mission, which was announced before the pandemic in 2019, acknowledges the need to increase the present fiber route length from 22 lakh km to 50 lakh km. Also, the National Digital Communications policy 2018 emphasizes on increasing the fiberization of telecom towers from the current 30% to 60%. And now, the pandemic has pushed the case of getting these fiber numbers pretty quickly to fulfill the data demand.

<\/p>

While increasing capacity is the need of the hour, providing reliable data connectivity is also important for telecom service providers. The Telecom sector is already under financial stress due to the debt and AGR dues. On this backdrop, It is quite challenging for the telecom operators to invest in creating more fiber infrastructure for increasing the existing capacity and reach.

<\/p>

In these uncertain times, it has become more critical than ever for governments, businesses, and industries to come together and support Telecom in every possible way.

<\/p>

Power Utilities \u2013 A game changer in the Telecom Industry

<\/strong><\/p>

Power utilities have Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) fiber network, which runs at the top of the transmission towers to provide earthing and reliable data connectivity. Using the existing infrastructure of utilities, we can reduce Telecom\u2019s financial burden by mitigating investment on infrastructure. Utility networks can provide a plug and play network to Telcos, thereby reducing their time-to-market as well as saving cost on account of securing RoWs. Maharashtra already has a statewide ring OPGW infrastructure which has proved its mettle in so many years and a similar model can be easily replicated in other states too.

<\/p>

India has approx. 109 lakh of transmission\/distribution ckt km and this network covers every nook and corner of the country. Also, with over 12 lakh transmission towers as against 5 lakh telecom towers, utility networks can ensure that there is no need to build new telecom tower sites. Transmission towers can easily host telecom equipment to act as telecom sites, of course, with the already fiberized facilities. This omnipresent utility network can ensure next-generation last-mile connectivity to the deepest corner of rural India.<\/p>

<\/p>

To further strengthen the existing telecom infrastructure, collaborations between the Government and private players should be encouraged as it can help in creating the requisite fiber infrastructure. It will help telecom services to address our data demands from any part of the geography and provide reliable services round-the-clock, to ensure we stay connected for our business continuity.<\/p>","blog_img":"","posted_date":"2020-09-24 19:19:08","modified_date":"2020-09-24 19:26:45","featured":"0","status":"Y","seo_title":"Covid-19: How power utlities aiding telecom infrastructure","seo_url":"covid-19-how-power-utlities-aiding-telecom-infrastructure","url":"\/\/www.iser-br.com\/tele-talk\/covid-19-how-power-utlities-aiding-telecom-infrastructure\/4528","url_seo":"covid-19-how-power-utlities-aiding-telecom-infrastructure"},img_object:["","retail_files/author_1600954879_73309.jpg"],fromNewsletter:"",newsletterDate:"",ajaxParams:{action:"get_more_blogs"},pageTrackingKey:"Blog",author_list:"Rajshekhar Deshraj",complete_cat_name:"Blogs"});" data-jsinvoker_init="_override_history_url = "//www.iser-br.com/tele-talk/covid-19-how-power-utlities-aiding-telecom-infrastructure/4528";">