10,000 km of optic fibre infra by FY25 to boost digital transformation

24 Apr 2023 CW Team

By the fiscal year 2024-2025, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will build approximately 10,000 km of optic fibre cable (OFC) infrastructure nationwide, according to plans released by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The National Highways Logistics Management Ltd (NHLML), a wholly owned NHAI special purpose corporation, would implement the digital highway network by building integrated utility corridors alongside national highways.

The ministry has designated 512 km of the Hyderabad-Bangalore Corridor and 1,367 km of the Delhi- Mumbai Expressway as test routes for the construction of digital highways. The OFC network intends to speed up the deployment of cutting-edge telecom technologies like 5G and 6G while providing internet connectivity to remote areas. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway's 246 km-long Delhi-Dausa- Lalsot stretch, which was just opened, has a three-meter-wide utility corridor for OFC installation, which will speed up the development of the 5G network in the area. Work on the OFC along national highways has started, and it should be finished in about a year.

The government claims that a straight plug-and-play or "fibre-on-demand" paradigm for telecom and internet services will be made possible by the OFC network. Eligible users will be able to lease the infrastructure through a web portal using a fixed fee allotment mechanism on a "Open for All" basis. In conjunction with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the OFC allotment policy is currently being finalised. The digital highway programme is anticipated to encourage expansion and advancement while assisting India's digital transformation.

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