DoT allows sharing of in-building telecom network at public places

New Delhi: The telecom department has allowed sharing of in-building network infrastructure among service providers at public places - which is expected to reduce call drops and increase mobile data speed.

The permission to share telecom network gears like optical fibre, boosters etc will also lower cost of operations for the operators. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, around 80 per cent of the mobile services are accessed inside building and therefore telecom operators should be mandated to share in-building telecom infrastructure to provide good quality service.

The DoT instead of mandating sharing of in-building solutions (IBS) has only issued advisory for it. "...all the TSPs (telecom service providers) are advised to share the in-building infrastructure with other TSPs, in all the existing government, public buildings, places like Airports, railway stations, bus terminals, metro stations and lines, hospitals etc, as per the terms and conditions of their respective licenses," the Department of Telecom said in its advisory dated November 18, 2019.

Trai has said that in-Building Solutions have become as vital to the buildings as water or electricity and data-hungry devices simply cannot be served by the outdoor network. The evolution to 5G, combined with the explosion of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, IBS and its sharing will become more important, it said.