New Delhi: The GatiShakti Sanchar portal has been launched by telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The portal will centralise and speed up approvals for laying of fibre and tower installations and speed up the upcoming 5G rollout.
The minister added that by December a legal backing for the Right of Way (RoW) will be in place.
The portal is an online platform for the industry to apply for RoW approvals as they build telecom infrastructure, including for 5G services. The platform will provide a unified, integrated, centralised approach covering all states and UTs, and central government ministries.
For players, it promises to reduce the days involved in getting stipulated permissions, lower costs, and will facilitate ease of doing business.
The RoW rules on setting up of telecom towers and cable laying, provides a framework for giving approvals, settling of disputes, and facilitates coordination between industry and various agencies.
elaborated that at present, the RoW rules are based on administrative process and a strong legal backing is required in order to empower local officials, bring clarity on the fee structure, and fix accountability.
“That will be our next step. Moreover, all the portals that are there, especially Gati Shakti portal, railway portal, highway portal, and others…integration of those…We will be working on these two technological and legal aspects,” Vaishnaw said.
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