Brief

Shared set-up for 6,700 cell sites

GTL Infrastructure Limited (GIL) is setting up shared passive telecom infrastructure for 6,700 cell sites on a build, own and operate basis. The project is part of an expansion drive and will have an investment of Rs 2,030 crore.

The fresh rollout in passive telecom infrastructure includes setting up of new Greenfield sites based on requirements of cellular operators who will be its anchor users. These sites will however be capable of accommodating other operators for co-location and will be marketed by GIL to prospective telecom operators on a sharing basis. The sites will either be Ground-Based Sites or Roof-Top Sites.

GIL would acquire existing sites from various operators and refurbish them to suit sharing and co-location requirements.

Prakash Ranjalkar, Chief Operating Officer, GIL said: “The objectives of infrastructure-sharing include maximising the use of existing infrastructure and ensuring that it is cost-effective with regard to coverage requirements especially in low Average Revenue Per User areas. The Indian telecom sector is witnessing a huge growth and GIL would like to act as a catalyst by bringing down the capital expenditure and operational costs for telecom companies.”

Passive telecommunication infrastructure constitutes around 65 percent and active components add upto about 35 percent of the total capital cost. However, given the recent rise in property, steel and cement prices, the capital cost of passive infrastructure is going up while that of active infrastructure is coming down with declining prices of electronic components. Passive telecom infrastructure includes the tower, shelter, air-conditioning equipment, diesel generator and battery for cellular operators.

While the overall telecom infrastructure requires a huge outlay, such investments often turn out to be risky given the rapid introduction of successive generations of new technology. Operators are occasionally faced with a situation where even before recovering their investments in existing infrastructure they embark on further investments in new generation networks. Thus shared infrastructure will bring down the passive infrastructure cost of telecom operators by at least 35 to 40 percent.

Today, India has the eighth largest telecom network in the world, which is growing at a rate of over 20 percent per annum. The New Telecom Policy 1999 facilitated major transformation in the Indian telecom sector. The Indian mobile market is adding around 4 million new subscribers every month. It has grown from less than 10 million subscribers in 2002 to 92 million in 2006.