DoT asks Karnataka to align infra roll out policy with RoW policy

New Delhi: The Karnataka government has been asked by the telecom department to align its infrastructure roll out policy with the Centre’s following incidents of cable cutting by the local municipal body in Bengaluru. The DoT in a letter dated May 1 to the state government said that the proposed regulation in Karnataka for telecom infrastructure roll out is not aligned with the Right of Way policy notification of November 2016.

Referring to a communication last month, the DoT Advisor for Karnataka telecom circle said, “it has been requested to pursue with state government for implementing the state RoW policy aligned with the central (Indian Telegraph) Right of Way policy.”

Recently, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had ordered to cut down telecom cables laid over the ground, citing them to be non-compliant with existing norms, and has demanded fees from companies to lay them underground.