5G rollouts on in select pockets but backhaul infra to cost Rs 3 lakh cr over 4-5 years: ICRA

Telecom players have started rolling out 5G services in select pockets but backhaul infrastructure will cost Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 4-5 years, according to ICRA.

ICRA noted consistent “healthy improvement” in operating metrics of telcos but added that debt levels continue to remain high and seen at around Rs 6.3 lakh crore as on March 31, 2023.

The full scale 5G deployment across the country will entail densification of the network and thereby sizeable investments in fiberisation, it contended.

“India currently has around 35 per cent of its towers fiberised and the rating agency expects that the capex required to fiberise the adequate number of towers to provide a sturdy network base would be close to Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 4-5 years,” ICRA said in a statement.