NEW DELHI: Fibre network would have to expand at least four-folds in order to meet the growing demand of data through investments required to the tune of around Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore, ICRA said in a note on Tuesday.
India lags far behind other countries in terms of fibre deployment with India’s per-capita fibre coverage at 0.09 fibre KM vis-à-vis 0.87 for China and 1.3 for US and Japan.
“So far, the fibre assets have been developed and owned by the telecom operators. But the telecom industry is reeling under the pressures, making it challenging for it to incur such capex,” said Harsh Jagnani, sector head & vice president – corporate ratings, ICRA.
ICRA noted that the telcos are taking a cue from the divestment of tower assets and their eventual emergence as an independent industry, the fibre assets are also being hived off to separate entities.
Post time: Mar-29-2019