New Delhi: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Railways on Saturday launched the “GatiShakti Sanchar” portal for Centralised Right of Way (RoW) in a bid to implement the Centre’s “broadband for all” agenda and facilitate the rollout of 5G services in the country.
In an official statement, the government said that universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in the rural areas, was one of the "most important visions" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The portal shall act as an enabler to the objective of ease of doing business for telecommunications infrastructure works in accordance with the vision of the PM,” said the minister while launching the portal.
“The timely disposal of RoW applications of various service and infrastructure providers shall enable speedy infrastructure creation which would be an enabler for the timely rollout of 5G Network also,” he said. The union minister cited the advantages of the adoption of technological tools in governance and appreciated the role and cooperation of the states and UTs in the operationalisation of the integrated centralised GatiShakti Sanchar portal.
The portal has been developed keeping in view the vision areas of the National Broadband Mission at the core, which are, providing broadband infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand and in particular, digital empowerment of the citizens of our country, said an official.
The project is part of the National Broadband Mission (NBM), set up by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) on December 17, 2019, to facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas.
During the launch of the new portal, the minister further said, “The portal will enable applicants from various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) as well as Infrastructure providers (IPs) to apply at a common single portal for Right of Way permissions to lay down Optical Fibre Cable and for erecting mobile towers to State/UT Governments and local bodies.”
“It will also facilitate the easy rollout of 5G services, in which a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is installed at very short intervals. For effective monitoring of RoW applications across the country, the portal even comes fitted with a potent dashboard showing state and district wise pendency status,” he said.
The portal smoothens the RoW approval process, which will lead to the fast laying of more Optical Fiber Cable and thus will accelerate fiberisation, and increased tower density which will enhance connectivity and improve the quality of various telecom services, thus ensuring better broadband speed, across the country.
The portal has been developed by MP state Electronics Development Corporation on behalf of DoT and is expected to give a fillip to the nation’s ‘AatmaNirbhar’ movement, contributing actively to transforming the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, the statement added.
The positive impact of these efforts by the DoT have percolated to both the rural and urban India, ensuring robust broadband connectivity, which in turn will ensure uninterrupted digital access, digital delivery of services and digital inclusion of all, based on technology that is sustainable, affordable and transformative, said officials.
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