We missed this last month: Telecom operators in India can now temporarily access land for laying down fiber cables and installing mobile towers under the newly notified “Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016” (pdf). The rules were initially drafted in November last year and came into enforcement on April 26th, 2017(pdf). Under the new rules, telcos will need to submit an application with details about land required for laying fiber cables or details of structures or building in case of installation of mobile towers. As per the earlier gazette notification in November last year, the state government will set up a nodal officer who reviews application submitted by telcos. The officer must respond by either granting access to land/building or reject it within 60 days. If the state authority does not respond within 60 days, the application shall be deemed accepted, the notification said. The RoW rules also make it mandatory for state/central/local government departments to adopt electronic/online application system within a period of 1 year of the laws coming into force. A lowdown of additional mandatory conditions to be followed by telcos and the state/central authority under the RoW rules: Application Conditions A telecom company applying for Right of Way grant should mandatorily take responsibility of rebuilding or restoring any damaged public/private property while carrying out their work. Once the Right of Way is granted, the telco should deposit a pre-determined amount as bank guarantee to the local/state authority within 30 days and pay 'administrative fees' of not more than Rs…
