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Contents
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 4
2. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT................................................................................................................. 9
3. TELECOM SCENARIO IN NORTH EAST ................................................................................................. 10
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................10
3.2 The Bandwidth Bottle-Neck ........................................................................................................ 10
3.3 Way Ahead.................................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 USOF Support..............................................................................................................................15
4. TRANSMISSION MEDIA PLAN.............................................................................................................. 16
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................16
4.2 Status of Existing USOF Schemes in North East .......................................................................... 16
4.3 Need for State to State & State To District transmission Network ............................................ 17
4.4 Methodology of Incremental Fiber Requirement for Ring Completion: .................................... 17
4.5 Details of existing Optical Fiber infra-structure:......................................................................... 17
4.6 Backhaul Equipment Planning .................................................................................................... 18
4.7 North Eastern Region Connectivity with rest of India ................................................................19
4.8 State to State OFC Connectivity.................................................................................................. 20
Recommendation for State to State connectivity in North East ........................................................25
4.9 State to District Physical Ring Planning.......................................................................................26
Assam ..................................................................................................................................................26
Recommendation for Assam State to District.....................................................................................35
Meghalaya........................................................................................................................................... 36
Tripura.................................................................................................................................................43
Mizoram .............................................................................................................................................. 48
Manipur...............................................................................................................................................58
Nagaland ............................................................................................................................................. 63
Arunachal Pradesh ..............................................................................................................................68
Sikkim ..................................................................................................................................................78
Details of Operator Fiber km. Existing & New ..................................................................................80
Recommendation for North East - State To District Ring Connectivity .............................................. 80
4.10 CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ...............................................................................................................81
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4.11 OPERATING EXPENDITURE.......................................................................................................... 84
5. COVERAGE FOR UNCOVERED NATIONAL HIGHWAYS (NH) OF NORTH EAST STATES OF INDIA ......... 89
5.1 Introduction: ...............................................................................................................................89
5.2 Assumptions:...............................................................................................................................91
5.3 References: ................................................................................................................................. 91
5.4 Methodology:..............................................................................................................................91
Back haul channel ................................................................................................................................... 93
5.5 BTS Cost Details...........................................................................................................................95
5.6 Result analysis:............................................................................................................................97
5.6 Key Observation:.......................................................................................................................104
5.7 Recommendation......................................................................................................................104
6. Annexure........................................................................................................................................... 105
Annexure I: Graphical Representation of Rings on Google Maps.........................................................105
Annexure II: Data of Existing OFC of Various Operators....................................................................... 105
Annexure III: Details of Fiber Km of TCIL & TRAI...................................................................................105
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction:
TCIL was approached by USOF Administrator vide Letter D.O No 30-119-1/2013 USOF dated
1st Nov 2013 for preparing a DPR in accordance with TRAI Recommendations dated Sep 2013
for Telecom Infra-structure Augmentation in the North Eastern States including Sikkim and
Assam.
TCIL studied the above mentioned TRAI Recommendations. Based on the study and various
meetings that were held with USOF officers in Nov 2013 the scope of DPR was finalized.
The three verticals addressed in this study report for North East region is as follows:
1. Providing 2G coverage to the villages that are uncovered by any Telecom Service
Provider (TSP).
2. Providing 2G coverage to the uncovered National Highway (NH) network of North East.
3. Providing redundancy and diversity for the optical media from State Headquarter (SHQ)
to District Headquarter (DHQ) and Inter-State capitals connectivity.
This report covers 2G coverage to the uncovered National Highway (NH) network and
transmission media network gap analysis for providing redundancy and diversity for the
optical media from SHQ to SHQ and SHQ to DHQ of North East Region including Sikkim, a
total of 8 States.
The key findings are the quantity and cost required for upgrading the telecom infrastructure in
North Eastern Region. The detailed of the study with quantity is given in the chapters. The
summary of estimated cost along with quantity is given below.
CAPEX ESTIMATION
The capital expenditure required to build infrastructure is done for each vertical. The study as
detailed in further chapters emphasizes on the quantity of OFC km, equipment quantity and
the no. of BTSs required.
A. Transmission Media
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CAPEX for OFC
Note: The rate has been estimated based on the BSNL tender rate for Defense where the minimum per
Km rate has been Rs 13 lacs which includes ROW cost and stringent cable specification as per tender
requirements. Considering lower OFC specifications and excluding ROW cost, the SITC cost for OFC has
been considered as Rs. 8 lakh per km. The per km. cost for OFC varies with the soil quality variation in
the sections especially in North East being tough terrain. Cost includes taxes and duties except Octroi
and local taxes.
Equipment
Equipment Cost (RS)
Quantity
Sl.
No State
OADM
Total Cost
DXC
. OA OADM DXC
OA
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Equipment
Equipment Cost (RS)
Quantity
Sl.
No State
OADM
Total Cost
DXC
. OA OADM DXC
OA
Total Cost (in Rs
(Rs) Crores)
5.50
3 Mizoram 18 4 4 9,000,000 6,000,000 40,000,000 55,000,000
4.90
4 Tripura 6 7 1 3,000,000 6,000,000 40,000,000 49,000,000
2.55
5 Manipur 7 8 1 3,500,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 25,500,000
5.25
6 Nagaland 4 7 4 2,000,000 10,500,000 40,000,000 52,500,000
Arunacha 9.45
7 39 10 6 19,500,000 15,000,000 60,000,000 94,500,000
l
1.55
8 Sikkim 2 3 1 1,000,000 4,500,000 10,000,000 15,500,000
38.90
Total 88 73 21 44,000,000 109,500,000 210,000,000 363,500,000
The capital expenditure required to build infrastructure for 2G coverage in the uncovered
national highway of NER is tabulated below. The capital expenditure has been calculated based
on the items required for setting up the BTS site which includes evaluated BTS equipment ( 2
TRX), tower & antenna, power infrastructure to support the BTS covering Solar panels, batteries
(with 3 days autonomy) as well as DG supply and backhaul equipment along with accessories.
The backhaul has been covered through Optical media assuming optical backbone is available
along the national highways.
NER has a total highway length of 8480 km out of which 1272 km (15%) is uncovered for mobile
communication. Based on the desktop study, a total no of 233 BTS has been found suitably to
cover the area at a total cost of Rs 97.37 Crores.
Total numbers
Total numbers
BTS Wattage
Rounded off
No of TRX
BTS Type
of BSC
WATT-
of BTS
S. No.
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Note: The CAPEX calculated above does not include survey cost therefore, 10% additional costs on the
estimated CAPEX is to be considered.
The above cost calculation was made taking into consideration the following item heads.
OPEX
On an average OPEX per year can be taken as 20% of capex cost. Such cost includes AMC,
manpower, drive test and optimization, regular site maintenance, diesel etc.
State
Total KM Uncovered KM No of BTS
TRAI TCIL TRAI TCIL TRAI TCIL
Arunachal 597
2302 1992 1218 122 119
Pradesh
131
Assam 3954 2836 94 10 23
211
Manipur 959 959 173 18 34
40
Meghalaya 810 810 0 0 9
74
Mizoram 927 927 8 1 12
187
Nagaland 494 494 101 10 29
28
Tripura 400 400 37 4 6
4
Sikkim 62 1
1272
Total 9846 8480 1631 165 233
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Based on the above following may be noted:
1. TCIL has estimated 233 BTS against TRAI estimation of 165 BTS. This is attributed to TRAI
report considering10Km per BTS whereas TCIL has estimated the BTS based on an average
6 Km per BTS / 3 Km per BTS based on the topography.
2. TRAI report indicates uncovered NH distance of 1631 km against TCIL desktop estimation
of 1272 km as detailed in subsequent chapters.
3. 1090 Km of National highway data of Arunachal Pradesh was not available on NIC GIS
which was part of TRAI report.
4. Estimation of BTS for 1090 km of NH stretch of Arunachal Pradesh has been extrapolated
considering 3 Km per BTS as assumption.
5. Total number of BTS estimate to cover 1272 Km stretch of National highways has been
estimated to be 233 at a cost of Rs. 97.37 cr.
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2. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
The broad structure of report is as follows:
Chapter 1 provides executive summary of the study carried out. It briefly explains the key
results arrived after doing analysis.
Chapter 3 details the generic Telecom status of NE region and various technologies evolving to
address telecom needs.
Chapter 4 details the Transmission Media requirement between State to State rings and State
to Districts ring connecting all eight North Eastern states of India including Assam, Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim. While analyzing
incremental CAPEX it was assumed that the network Between District Headquarters and Blocks
of each state is already subsidized by USOF and the network below Blocks upto Gram Panchayat
are subsidized under NOFN project. The study has been done to ensure connectivity, Capacity
and reliability of Transmission media in above mentioned eight North Eastern States.
Chapter 5 reports on the requirement for the 2G uncovered areas of National Highways of
North East, India. Sikkim state was also included in the study report. Total length of NH studied
was 8480 Km out of which 1272 Km i.e. 15% was found uncovered by any service provider.
GSM 900MHz was taken as reference for study.
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3. TELECOM SCENARIO IN NORTH EAST
3.1 Introduction
The country has seen a phenomenal growth in the availability of economical telecom
services. People from all sections of the population are now using mobile telephone and
accessing the internet for viewing/retrieval of information and e-mail.
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3.3 Way Ahead
a. 4G - LTE
The way ahead is the new LTE based 4G based technologies which are already deployed
in many countries. Instead of 2G & 3G based towers and equipments, the new
infrastructure should be based on 4G where the tower deployment is easier and
cheaper. It is all the more required in remote places like NER where space, power and
funds are constraints as 4G offers solutions addressing all these issues. The 4G BTS are
very small in size and require very less power for operation, approx. 20W. Moreover,
they can be installed on poles rather than towers. The 4G network is also roll back
network i.e., it supports 3G, Edge, GPRS as well as 2G. The 4G network is based on LTE-
Advanced - 3GPP Long Term Evolution. LTE is a series of upgrades to existing UMTS
technology and will be rolled out on existing frequency band.
Therefore in remote areas where CAPEX is an issue along with power availability, the
operators should look at 4G option to make their networks it future proof.
Shared RAN is a concept in which one or more licensed mobile services operators agree
to share the radio access network of a third party infrastructure provider, for providing
the mobile telephone services in accordance with their license terms and conditions.
The licensed operator would still own the core network and would continue to own and
manage it. The backhaul/transmission system could be on Optical Fibre Cable medium
or Microwave or alternative media/technology and used on a shared basis.
The sharing of active infrastructure is the logical next step, and the Department of
Telecommunications (DOT) has now allowed sharing of active infrastructure amongst
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service providers based on mutual agreements entered amongst them. It is pertinent to
mention that DOT guidelines exclude from sharing the allocated spectrum. The active
network allowed to be shared is limited to antenna, feeder cable, Node B, Radio Access
Network and transmission system only.
Cost savings
Active infrastructure sharing results in both CAPEX and OPEX savings for the sharing
operators.
It is known that passive sharing allows operators to share costs of passive infrastructure
which is estimated to be almost 60% of the BSS cost. In case of active sharing because
the BTS equipment, antennas and feeders are additionally shared, the CAPEX savings for
operators shall be more. However multi-operator equipment and antennas are more
expensive than traditional RAN equipment. But with increased deployment of shared
RAN, the production costs may drop in future.
Also the common equipment platform results in less power consumption and reduced
maintenance costs.The additional savings that may be obtained on account of shared
RAN over passive infrastructure sharing may be estimated from a break-up of site CAPEX
structure.
Power supply 5%
Others 5%
Total 100%
From above table it is seen that base station and antenna system account for about 32%
of site CAPEX and depending upon the number of sharing operators, significant cost
savings of appx. 25% may be obtained for each operator.
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In case of OPEX the savings shall arise from (a) lease/rental of passive infrastructure
since less space is required to accommodate more operators, and, (b) maintenance and
power consumption. The breakup of operational expenses for RAN have been estimated
as follows-
Rental/Lease 40%
Backhaul 22%
Maintenance 20%
Total 100%
Since all above expenses will get shared, the savings in OPEX are expected to be
significant up to appx 10% to 15% of OPEX per operator.
Commercial basis
The commercial basis of sharing should take into account (a) recovery of investment
made by the third party infrastructure provider in a reasonable period, (b) the annual
operational expenses, and, (c) reasonable returns to sustain and grow the business as
also make reasonable profits.
The various factors that are expected to drive the deployment of shared RAN services in
India include the following:
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In view of the low ARPU, the rollout of mobile networks can only be supported on a
strategy of minimizing the cost and time of rollout of the network. The sharing of mobile
infrastructure is the only way to cut down the cost (especially for new operators). As
discussed above, passive infrastructure sharing is already taking place in a big way and
the sharing of active infrastructure in light of the recent TRAI guidelines shall be the next
big thing.
Technological Consolidation:
The shared RAN represents an opportunity for existing operators to optimize and
consolidate their BSS infrastructure in urban and metro areas on a common, high-
capacity and scalable platform (including wide-band and efficient IP transmission
network) which shall support the variety of services under 3G/4G with the associated
higher bandwidths / data-rates. The technological advantage coupled with the necessity
of cost savings makes shared RAN solution equally attractive in semi-urban and rural
areas.
4G Spectrum Allocation:
It is felt that the process of 4G spectrum allocations may be completed sometime this
calendar year. The telecom industry is anxiously looking forward to the same. It is
expected that in the initial phase 4G services will be marketed in metro and major cities.
However, the cost of migration to 3G/4G remains an important aspect and the shared
RAN network can be one of the solutions for economizing the cost. New technologies to
further stimulate demand: In order to augment their services, various operators may
plan for providing 4G as well as Wi-Max services as soon as they receive additional
spectrum from Government.
Energy Saving:
The shared RAN provides the method of overall reduction of BTS/towers which is in-fact
becoming a necessity from the view point of environment and energy saving.
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Shorter Rollout time:
Since the mobile industry is highly competitive, the new entrants face a greater
challenge from incumbent operators already having widespread network, established
brand name and large subscriber base. Third party active infrastructure providers can
provide the economical cost and rollout time advantage which may prove critical for
business success of the newer entrants.
The OFC network up-gradation/expansion in the various states is required to enable the
integrated development of USOF supported service streams, especially the creation of
general infrastructure and induction of new technological developments in the telecom
sector in rural and remote areas, and therefore qualifies for financial support from USOF
under the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2006.
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4. TRANSMISSION MEDIA PLAN
4.1 Introduction
The transmission media plays a key role in carrying the bulk data traffic from node to
node. The need for investment in the transmission media in NER has been realized after
the study conducted by USOF under various schemes both for wireless and wire line. In
one such scheme of USOF for District Headquarter to Block Headquarter connectivity on
Optical fiber in a ring topology of 2.5 Gbps upgradable to 10Gbps, the detailed OFC
planning had been done and a business plan for Assam & North East had been prepared
by TCIL as consultants to USOF. The financial gap between capital recovery vis-a-viz net
revenue realized over a period of years was estimated. This gap was recognized by
USOF, and the subsidy was provided through tenders floated for DHQ to BHQ
connectivity in NER and Assam so as to facilitate telecom operators to rollout the
network and mandatorily share it in regulated manner with other operators. BBNL has
also addressed this issue Block downwards i.e. OFC connectivity from Block to Gram
Panchayat.
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4.3 Need for State to State & State To District transmission Network
The transmission network as stated in the table above i.e. districts downwards is
building up under USOF schemes & BBNL project, it is realized that with emergence of
3G based applications, video on demand and digital era, huge amount of data shall be
generated by the growing telecom subscriber base. To cater to this voluminous data, a
robust network is required from state to district and further inter-state. This study
focuses on the State to state and state to district part of the transmission network of
NER identifying the gaps in the physical connectivity and capacity wise as well.
1. Identify the state / district headquarters of North Eastern Region states on a map, as per
the latest data available. This was done using freeware Google Earth.
2. Study of existing fiber network , the references from TRAI, NIC, PGCIL Telecom Network,
RailTel Network, BSNL planning sheets having existing and planned fiber information of
operators in Assam & North East are taken.
3. A physical ring is planned considering the geographical factors i.e. roads, terrain and
river etc. on Google earth both for state to state and state to district for all 8 states of
NER.
4. The gap in the existing and new fiber required to complete the ring is identified. The
new sections are analyzed against the sections in which subsidy is already provided
under various USOF schemes for Assam & North East Scheme for District To Block HQ
connectivity in ring topology.
5. The Sections so identified after above mentioned steps are tabulated against the rings
for each State.
6. In addition to the incremental fiber identified above, a provision of 10 km. fiber is taken
for inter-operator PoP to PoP connectivity and in case of new sections also, a 10 km.
provision is kept for coiling, termination, and maintenance purposes.
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4.6 Backhaul Equipment Planning
The physical gaps are analyzed above and the backhaul equipment planning addresses
the capacity requirement in the rings planned as explained above. The rings are planned
considering existing optical fibre network of all the operators since the network is to be
augmented keeping in mind to avoid redundancy of transmission media on same route
by different operators.
In USOF schemes adequate measures are taken to cover the above high lease costs.
Following deliverables are expected from BSNL and RailTel in Assam and North East
respectively:
1. The operator shall build, operate, own and manage all the equipment/infrastructure for
the intra district augmented/created OFC transport network.
2. The operator shall be responsible for complete augmented and created bandwidth in
the district wise OFC networks, covering both existing routes/sections,
utilized/upgraded as well as new sections. This responsibility shall be on continuous
basis and will extend to all aspects of the scheme viz., roll-out and commissioning,
operation and maintenance, and providing bandwidth on sharing basis.
3. During the validity of the agreement, at least 70% of the subsidized bandwidth capacity
shall be made available by the host operator to other service providers for utilization, on
sharing basis at discounted tariff as prescribed in the agreement.
4. The discounted tariff for Assam is 26.22% of current TRAI ceiling rate i.e. minimum
discount of 73.78% on the current TRAI Ceiling tariffs for various bandwidth and
distance slabs.
5. The discounted tariff for NE-I circle is 12% and for NE-II is 27%. i.e. minimum discount of
88% on the current TRAI Ceiling tariffs in NE-I Service Area and minimum discount of
73% on the current TRAI Ceiling tariffs in NE-II Service Area.
6. The discount is valid on the subsidized bandwidth, provided on lease to other operators,
in the OFC transport network from SDHQ-SDHQ, having both the ends in same district or
in different districts.
7. The discounted tariff is applicable till the agreement period continuous between USOF
and BSNL for Assam and USOF and RailTel for NE respectively.
From above it can be concluded that if BSNL and RailTel has to ensure the bandwidth
from any District to any District and they have to share it with other operators at a
discounted rate as prescribed in their respective agreements. But their mandate is to
ensure ring architecture between DHQ and SDHQ. From SDHQ of one district to SDHQ of
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another district, they have to only ensure a path, not a protected path. Hence for
redundancy in path between State HQ to District HQ, plan has already been proposed
above. It is assumed that 2.5G ADM are available at all DHQs as it is one of the
deliverables to ensure ring of minimum 2.5G expandable to 10G.
The SDH ring design with an interconnected multi-ring architecture overlaid over an
optical mesh network or on Optical physical network as planned in state-wise physical
rings above. The no. of wave lengths required in any logical ring, is calculated using the
additional bandwidth requirement from the TRAI report. The logical rings consist of
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (OADM) and Digital Cross Connects (DXC). OADM is
placed on nodes where a part of traffic is dropped, some traffic is inserted and the rest
is passing through. Digital cross connects are used to cross connect inter ring traffic
between multiple rings where inter ring traffic is defined as the set of demands such
that source node belongs to one ring and the destination node belongs to other ring.
Optical Amplifiers (OA) are placed where only signal regeneration and pass through is
needed.
A state-wise equipment plan is formulated and the lease charges wherever required
shall be extra. We are also assuming that the existing system present is 2.5G SDH is just
sufficient to cater to existing traffic need of blocks below DHQ and a separate
equipment shall be planned at DHQ for SHQ to DHQ ring. In order to meet the
requirement of increasing bandwidth demand on the basis of various applications,
DWDM needs to be deployed.
From above it is analyzed that at least 40 lambda, 2.5G, DWDM system shall be
required. The Digital Cross Connect (DXC) is planned at all the state Headquarters and at
those District HQs where two or more rings are interconnecting. A provision of one
OADMat each District Head Quarter is taken while planning. In new sections, an Optical
amplifier (OA) is placed at every 40 km. distance for regeneration of signal. In a ring,
when there is an inter operator switching of traffic, an OA is planned at interconnection
point. An OA is also planned at nodes other than DHQ in the ring which are at the end
points of new section. The equipment projections on the rings are analyzed in the
respective tables of state.
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These states are connected to the rest of India via Assam's border with West Bengal and
a narrow strip called the "Chicken's Neck."
Moreover, distance wise this is a long route, subject to greater number of faults. During
any emergency, the telecommunication is solely dependent on satellite communication,
which is not cost effective as well as is a low speed with narrow bandwidth. The OFC
medium would offer a better future solution in terms of expansion of bandwidth
capacity.
In the TRAI report referred, it is mentioned that the OFC route Bongaigaon Guwahati
Nagaon (350km) which connects Guwahati to the rest of India has been damaged
beyond repair due to road widening work and therefore may be funded. It is to mention
that subsidy for the same has already been provided in USOF Assam scheme and this
section will also get covered indirectly while connecting these districts with their
respective sub-districts.
The equipment upgradation planning is done in all State to Districts rings. A Digital Cross
Connect is planned at each State Capital which is equipped with high capacity OADMs.
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The DXC shall be adequate for State to State rings and shall work as an interconnect
between State to state ring and State to District ring. No additional equipment is
required at State Head Quarters. Hence, Capex requirement in terms of equipment
upgradation is nil in State to state connectivity as it is already covered in State to District
rings.
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Table 1: State to State Proposed Rings
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S. State Ring Proposed new OFC Operator Presence Reference Remarks
No. HQ to (Km)
State
HQ
BSNL is available in entire
route.
PGCIL is available in following
Guwah
sections:
ati -
Guwahati - Shillong
Shillong
Guwahati - Pathankhana - Shillong - Silchar
-Silchar
Mairang - Shillong - Jowai - Silchar - Imphal (planned)
-
Kalain - Silchar - Jiribam - Imphal - Dimapur
Imphal
Tamenglong - Kangkopi - Dimapur - Tezpur - Bongaigaon
2 - Option 1 0 km
Imphal - Ukhrul - Kohima - - Guwahati
Kohima
Sechu - Dimapur - Bakulia -
-
Nagaon - Motapahar Alternate routes are present
Dimapu
Guwahati for the following:
r-
Guwahati - Shillong via
Guwah
Nongpoh.
ati
Kohima - Dimapur via Nuland
Dimapur to Nagaon via
Numaligarh KML 3
Silchar - Karimganj -
Patharkandi - Dharamnagar -
Kamalpur : BSNL existing.
Silchar - Karimganj -
Silchar - Kamalpur - Khowai: New OFC
Patharkandi - Dharamnagar -
Agartal Proposed (included in Tripura
Kamalpur - Khowai -
a- state to district).
3 Mohanpur - Agartala -
Aizawl Agartala - Salema - Ambassa :
Salema - Ambassa -
Only a small section of BSNL and PGCIL present.
Manughat - Aizwal - Serken -
Silchar the ring is uncovered, Ambasa - Manughat : BSNL
Kolasib - Silchar
which is covered as a present.
part of State to District Manughat to Aizwal: PGCIL
ring of Tripura. present. KML 4
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S. State Ring Proposed new OFC Operator Presence Reference Remarks
No. HQ to (Km)
State
HQ
Aizwal to Silchar: BSNL OFC
present.
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Recommendation for State to State connectivity in North East
The state to state connectivity analysis has been done and it is analyzed that BSNL OFC
network is existing from state to state in NER region. However, redundancy on these
existing routes is critical as these are bulk traffic carrying routes and generally NER has
difficult terrain so any fiber damage / cut may take long time to repair.
With this perspective, PGCIL OPGW network along high power transmission line is very
reliable option, it is connecting all state capitals with Guwahati. The details are provided
in Table above. As mentioned in TRAI report, PGCIL is not leasing dark fiber but only
providing bandwidth and the tariff on these NER routes is also relatively high. This issue
may be dealt by calculating the financial gap and providing subsidy to PGCIL on these
specific routes. It is essential to create a level playing field in NER and encourage
operators to enter in NER. At the same time PGCIL may reduce its bandwidth leasing
charges to other operators, hence, to reduce unnecessary incremental OFC layout for
redundancy network and to utilize the existing OFC in best way USOF may suitably
provide subsidy support to existing operators for the same to promote improvement of
telecom infrastructure in North Eastern states.
The analysis of the redundancy and capacity for state to state ring is done and the
strategy is tabulated below. As such no infrastructure gap is seen. The issue is high
Bandwidth lease charges and non-availability of dark fiber by operators with existing
infrastructure like BSNL & PGCIL in NER.
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4 Assam Sikkim NIL BSNL & PGCIL fiber is existing from
Guhawati to Gangtok.
Note: The above CAPEX requirement includes cost of OFC (supply + service). The provision of
CAPEX for Equipment upgradation is kept in state to district rings and the same system
shall suffice the requirement of state to state rings.
The study of state to district connectivity in ring topology is done for Assam, Sikkim and
the six North Eastern state and it is seen that mostly BSNL is present and many
uncovered sections are already funded in USOF Assam & NE scheme. However, RailTel&
BSNL need to expedite the rollout of fiber in the NER and adhere to the timelines given.
The incremental quantity of OFC length as analyzed in table below for State to District
ring completion is subject to completion of the USOF Assam & NE scheme.
Assam
The Assam state has 27 districts, and the study is done w.r.t to state head quarter
district headquarter connectivity in ring on OFC, considering the existing fiber of various
operators. The gaps identified are from
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Table 2A: State Headquarter to District Headquarter OFC Connectivity (Assam)
No. of district
New Sections
District(ASD)
Assam State
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
S.No.
RING
Ring
to
Kajalgaon is
DHQ of
Chirang
district, and it
is very near (10
km) to
Guwahati - Bongaigaon.
Goalpara - Therefore it is
Baitamari (BTM) - presumed that
Bilasipara (BLSP) - Kamrup, as per TRAI
Dhubri - Kamrup information
CoochBehar (COB) - (metro), and USOF
Kokrajhar - Goalpara,Dhu Assam tender
Kajalgaon - bri, Kokrajhar, reference,
Bongaigaon - Chirang, Kajalgaon is
Barpeta Rd - Bongaigaon, connected on
Nalbari - Rangia - Barpeta, this ring with
1 1 Guwahati 9 Nalbari Entire ring BSNL TRAI Nil Guwahati. ASD 1
Guwahati-
Pathshala-
Barpeta Rd-
Bongaigaon-
Kokrajhar OIL TRAI
Guwahati - PGCIL
Kahelipara- Websi
Bongaigaon PGCIL te
27 | P a g e
No. of district
New Sections
District(ASD)
Assam State
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
S.No.
RING
Ring
to
Guwahati -
Chayagaon-
Duphdhara-
Goalpara-New
Bongaigaon-
Kokrajhar-
Bijni- Barpeta RailTel
Rd - Nalbari SDH
Guwahati RailTel ppt
Guwahati -
Baihata(BHT) - Darrang,Sonit
Mangaldai (MLD)- pur,
Tezpur- Lakhimpur, Nagaon -
N.Lakhimpur - Dhemaji, Marigaon -
Dhemaji - Dibrugarh, Guwahati is
Dibrugarh - Tinsukia Tinsukia, existing
- Duliajan - Sonari - Sivsagar, section as per
Sibsagar - Jorhat - Jorhat, Guwahati - Dhema NIC. It is
Marianil - Golaghat Golaghat, Dhemaji & ji- shown as
- Nagaon- Marigaon Nagaon, Dibrugarh - Dibrug TRAI 70 planned in
2 2 - Guwahati 11 Marigaon Guwahati BSNL TRAI arh & NIC km TRAI Report. ASD-2
Guwahati-
Nagaon -
Jorhat-
Duliajan OIL TRAI
Guwahati- PGCIL
Bongaigaon- Websi
Tejpur- Nagaon PGCIL te
28 | P a g e
No. of district
New Sections
District(ASD)
Assam State
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
S.No.
RING
Ring
to
Guwahati-
Sikoni- Jorhat-
Moran-
Tinsukia-
Namrup-
Mariani-
Furkating-
Sarupatahr-
Dimapur-
Diphu-
Lumding-
Lanka-Jagi RailTel
Road- SDH
Guwahati RailTel ppt
Silchar
-
Udarba
nd(Cac
har)
Harang
ajao
(North
Cachar TRAI ,
Guwahati - Shillong Karimganj, Guwahati - )59 km USOF
- Jowai - Karimganj - Hailakandi, Shillong - Jowai Assam
Hailakandi - Silchar Cachar, - Karimganj - Haflon Sche
- Haflong - Diphu - Haflong, Hailakandi - TRAI g me, 138.
3 3 Guwahati 5 Diphu Silchar BSNL & NIC Maiba NIC 1 km ASD-3
29 | P a g e
No. of district
New Sections
District(ASD)
Assam State
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
S.No.
RING
Ring
to
ng(cov
ered in
USOF
Assam)
-
Lumdin
g
79.1km
Guwahati-
Kahelipara-
Shillong -
Khlerihat- PGCIL
Badarpur - Websi
Silchar PGCIL te
Guwahati-
Digaru-Jagi rd-
Chapramukh-
Lanka-
Lumding-
Diphu -
Tinsukia-
Dibrugarh- RailTel
Jorhat- SDH
Guwahati RailTel ppt
Guwahati - Nagaon Guwahati - Udalguri &
- Musalpur - Musalpur & Baksa will get
Tamulpur - Udalguri Udalguri,Baks Guwahati - connected in
4 4 - Guwahati 2 a Udalguri BSNL TRAI ring through ASD-2
30 | P a g e
S.No.
Ring No.
Ring
No. of district
Name of
Districts
Existing
Section
Operator
Reference
New Sections
Reference
Length
already
Subsidy
Remarks
provided.
their Block
under USOF
Headquarters
Assam Tender.
Assam State
to
31 | P a g e
District(ASD)
RING
Table 2B: State Headquarter to District Headquarter Equipment Planning (Assam)
32 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio Equipment
OFC
(Km) n Inter- Required
Ring Operato Operato
From To Remarks
No. r& U/g or r
Existing New OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
33 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio Equipment
OFC
(Km) n Inter- Required
Ring Operato Operato
From To Remarks
No. r& U/g or r
Existing New OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
Silchar - Udarband 18.7 BSNL 3 Note 1
Udarband Harangajao 59 10 u/g New
Harangajao Haflong 42 BSNL
Haflong Maibang 50 BSNL
Maibang Lumding 79 10 New
Lumding Diphu 39 RailTel
Diphu Nagaon 143 BSNL 1
Nagaon Guwahati - 127 BSNL
Guwahati - Nalbari - 141 BSNL 1
Nalbari - Musalpur - 240 BSNL
ASD 4 Musalpur - Tamulpur - 42 BSNL
Tamulpur - Udalguri - 79.9 BSNL
Udalguri - Guwahati 128 BSNL
3572.6 208 20 Total 5 3
No. of DHQs 27
No. of DXC 3 DXC at Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari
No. of OADM 24
No. of OA 5
34 | P a g e
Recommendation for Assam State to District
The analysis of Assam State to District ring shows that BSNL is the dominant operator. It has
already existing OFC covering all the districts and most sub-districts under USOF Assam project.
As per the project mandate the lease tariff is reduced on these sections. The State to District
gap in Assam for the fiber & equipment is nominal and BSNL may be directly given subsidy
being dominant operator to complete this gap and mandated to provide bandwidth on lease at
reduced tariff.
35 | P a g e
Meghalaya
Meghalaya state Headquarter is Shillong and has 11 districts, which includes four new
districts formed after 2011 census. The detailed study for the ring connectivity between
Shillong and District Headquarters is done using freeware Google earth and existing
fiber information from TRAI report under reference and the details of planning
information conducted for USOF North East Scheme in which rings were formed
between District to Block HQ on fiber.
In Meghalaya all the district headquarter are connected to Shillong in five rings on BSNL
existing fiber and on the gap sections are already considered while USOF NE planning
wherein these sections are subsidized and to be executed by RailTel.
One new Section of 53 km from Riangdo to Bokois proposed and shall provide
additional redundancy to four rings envisaged.
The various rings are tabulated in Table 3 and the respective KML files are placed at KML
9 to KML 12 in Annexure 1.
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda, 2.5 G
DWDM rings and repeater distance of 40 km is taken on new sections. The methodology
is explained in Section 4.6 Backhaul equipment planning.
36 | P a g e
Table 3A: MEGHALAYA STATE TO DISTRCT OFC RING ANALYSIS
Meghalaya State
to District (MSD
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring)
Ring
East Khasi
Hills, West
Shillong - Jowai- Jaintia, East Shillong - Jowai - MSD-
1 Khliehriat - shillong 3 Jaintia Khliehriat BSNL TRAI 1
Khliehriat PGCIL
Option 1 Shillong PGCIL Website
Shillong -
Mawryngkneng - Dawki-
Jowai - Dawki - Pynursla , to
Pynursala- be executed
Langkyrdem- by NETF as
Shillong BSNL TRAI per TRAI
Jowai-
Khlierihat Subsidy
- allocated
Lakadong under USOF-
Jowai- Amlarem- Ring in NE scheme
Lakadong- Rymbia- USOF NE for this
Option 2 Khliehriat- Jowai RailTel Plan section.
Ring (partly BSNL Subsidy
Shillong- Nongpoh - present) & partly allocated
Guwahati - Borjhar- covered under TRAI, under USOF-
Patharkhama- USOF NE tender BSNL USOF NE NE scheme MSD-
2 Mairang -Shillong 1 Ri Bhoi Option 1 planning &RailTel Plan for this 2
37 | P a g e
Meghalaya State
to District (MSD
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring)
Ring
section.
Shillong -
Pongjhung -
Mawkyrwat- West Khasi
Nongstoin-Mairang Hills, South MSD-
3 - Shillong 2 West Khasi Option 1 Ring Existing BSNL TRAI 3
Shillong -
Pongkhung-
Mawkyrwat-
Noongstoin-
Riangdo- East Garo
WilliamNagar - Hills, North
Songsak- Garo Hills,
Resubelpara- West Khasi
Krishnai- Dudhnoi- Hills, South
Boko-Guwahati- West Khasi, Ring via MSD-
4 Nongpoh - Shillong 5 Ri Bhoi Option 1 Existing Ring BSNL TRAI Assam 4
38 | P a g e
Meghalaya State
to District (MSD
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring)
Ring
Ring existing
on BSNL
except
Shillong- Nongstoin Mahendraga
- Williamnagar- nj -
Baghmara- Barengpara
Mahendraganj - East Garo and Rewa -
Ampati - Hills, West Nongalbibra
Garobadha - Tura - Garo Hills, sections
Mendal - South West Ring (partly BSNL Ria which are
Resubelpara - Garo Hills, present) & partly ngd covered in
Dudhnoi - Boko - South Garo covered under TRAI, o- USOF NE
Guwahati- Hills, North USOF NE tender BSNL USOF NE Bok 53 planning MSD-
5 Nongpoh - Shillong 5 Garo Hills Option 1 planning &RailTel Plan o km TRAI &subsidized. 5
Riangdo-
Boko, new
section
proposed will
provide
additional
redundancy
for ring no.
2,3,4,5
above.
Section, Mahendraganj - Barengpara , Rewa- Nongalbibra &, Rongram-Williamnagar as suggested in TRAI report are also covered in USOF NE
Note planning and therefore subsidized.
39 | P a g e
Table 3B: MEGHALAYA STATE TO DISTRCT EQUIPMENT PALNNING
40 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio
OFC Equipment Required Remarks
(Km) n Inter-
Ring Operato
From To Operator
No. Existin r& U/g or
New OA DXC
g coiling Aerial
etc
Resubelpara Krishnai 21.6 BSNL
Krishnai Dudhnoi 13.2 BSNL
Dudhnoi Boko 47.7 BSNL
Boko Guwahati 65.8 BSNL
Guwahati Nongpoh 49.3 BSNL
Nongpoh Shillong 51.1 BSNL
Shillong Nongstoin 94.7 BSNL
Nongstoin Williamnagar 141 BSNL
Williamnagar Nongalbibra, 22 BSNL
Rewa -
1 Nongalgipara
Nongalbibra, Rewak 38 10 Railtel (Railtel USF NE)
Rewak Baghmara 24 10 BSNL 1
Baghmara Barenghpara 53 BSNL
Mahendragan
MSD-5 1
Barenghpara j 50 10 Railtel
Mahendragan
1
j Ampati 28 10 BSNL
Ampati Garobadha 22.8 BSNL
Garobadha Tura 28.2 BSNL
Tura Mendal 60.8 BSNL
Mendal Resubelpara 25.7 BSNL
Resubelpara Dudhnoi 26.8 BSNL
Dudhnoi Boko 47.7 BSNL
41 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio
OFC Equipment Required Remarks
(Km) n Inter-
Ring Operato
From To Operator
No. Existin r& U/g or
New OA DXC
g coiling Aerial
etc
Boko - riangdo -
1 New (53 km.
Boko Guwahati 65.8 53 u/g BSNL subsection)
Guwahati Nongpoh 49.3 BSNL
Nongpoh Shillong 51.1 BSNL
Total 2010.3 53 70 0 7 1
No. of DHQs 11
No. of DXC 1 DXC at Shillong
No. of OADM 10
No. of OA 7
42 | P a g e
Tripura
The Tripura State has Headquarter at Agartala and has 8 districts, including four new
districts formed after 2011 census. There are 3 rings envisaged from Agartala to its
districts which are covered on BSNL fiber and some new sections are already
subsidized through USOF NE-1 tender.
A new section required to connect ring between Districts HQ Khowai, Kaliashahar, &
Dharamnagar is from Kamapur Tulashikar (36 km) This section is also identified in
the state to state rings for connectivity from Shillong to Agartala to Aizawl but cost of
this section is taken here.
The rings are tabulated in Table 4 and are represented in KML 13 to KML 14 in
Annexure 1.
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda,
2.5 G DWDM rings and repeater distance of 40 km is taken on new sections. The
methodology is explained in Section 4.6 Backhaul equipment planning
43 | P a g e
Table 4A: Tripura State to District OFC ring
No. of district
New Sections
Tripura State
Redundancy
(TSD Ring)
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
Route
Ring
Agartala -
Birendranagar-
Ambassa- West
Gandarchara- Tripura,
Amarpur- Dhalai,
R.K.pur(Udaipur Gomati,
) - Bisramganj - Sipahijal TRAI, USOF
1 Agartala 4 a Option1 Existing Ring BSNL NE planning TSD-1
Udaipur - New
Amarpur - Sections
Karbuk - Partly BSNL are
Rupaichari - existing & subsidized
Satchand - remaining in USOF NE
Hrishiyamukh - covered in Tender
Belonia South USOF NE TRAI, USOF
2 Udapiur 1 Tripura Option1 planning NE planning TSD-2
Agartala -
Mohanpur -
Khowai Partly Existing
Tulashikhar - on BSNL &
kamalpur - rest covered
Kailashahar- Khowai, in USOF NE
Dharamnagar- Unakoti, Tender Kamalpur TRAI,
Kumarghat - North i.e.,Khowai- BSNL, USOF NE TRAI, USOF - USOF NE 36k
3 Ambassa- 3 Tripua Option1 Kamalpur Tender NE planning Tulashikar Planning m TSD-3
44 | P a g e
No. of district
New Sections
Tripura State
Redundancy
(TSD Ring)
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Existing
Section
Length
Route
Ring
Agartala
45 | P a g e
Table 4B: Tripura State to District Equipment Planning
46 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisi Equipment
OFC
(Km) on Required
Inter-
Ring Operat
From To Opera Remarks
No. U/g or or
Existing New tor & OA DXC
Aerial
coiling
etc
(optio Mohanpur - Khowai - 34.1 10 RailTel 1
n 1) Khowai - Tulashikhar 35.9 10 BSNL 1
to check
Tulashikhar kamalpur - 36 New 2 with RailTel
kamalpur - Kaishahar 27 BSNL
Dharamnagar
Kailashahar- - 33 BSNL
Dharamnagar- Kumarghat - 40.2 BSNL
Kumarghat - Ambassa- 68.7 BSNL
Ambassa- Agartala 82.6 BSNL
TOTAL 838.2 36 40 6 4
No. of
DHQs 8
No. of DXC 4
No. of
OADM 4
No. of OA 6
47 | P a g e
Mizoram
The Mizoram State HQ is Aizawl and it has 8 districts in it. The terrain is hilly and road
connectivity to district headquarter is only feasible through NH. In many cases, alternate paths
are not available, therefore aerial cable is the only way to ensure redundancy in such locations.
The analysis for Aizawl to district HQ has been done, 4 districts namely Serchhip, Lunglei,
Lawngtlai and Saiha are connected with Aizawl in ring and sub rings formed through Serchhip
(MZSD - 1to 4), in which two new sections from (Lawngtlai - Saiha (58km) &Sangau -
Hnaihthial (62km) i.e total 120 km is proposed.
The other three districts i.e. Champai, Kolasib and Mamit are either partly or fully connected on
OFC and to ensure redundancy for these district headquarters aerial fiber is only way because
of lack of alternate route.The actual requirement of Underground OFC or OPGW orADSS cable
can be assessed only after a detailed field survey.
The new sections suggested to connect these 3 districts in ring with Aizawl are as follows:
1) Underground OFC - Aizawl - Lengpui- Mamit, UG OFC (95 km), Aizawl Champai
(100km){BSNL damaged section, reference TRAI report}
2) Aerial OFC Aizawl- Champai (207 km) , Aizawl Mamit (95km) and Aizawl Kolasib (80 km).
The actual length of aerial fiber may be less and is subject to a site survey. For budgetary
estimation same length as of underground fiber is taken.
The details are given in Table 5 below and the rings are represented in KML 15 to KML 20 at
Annexure 1.
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda, 2.5 G
DWDM rings and repeater distance of 40 km is taken on new sections. The methodology is
explained in Section 4.6 Backhaul equipment planning.
48 | P a g e
Table 5A: Mizoram State to District OFC Ring
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
1 Aizawl - 2 Aizawl, Serchhip Option 1 Aizawl - BSNL TRAI , USOF NE planning Entire ring MZSD-1
Tlangnuam- Sechhip , except
Aibawk - covered under Chingchip to
Serchhip - USOF NE Serchhip(whi
Thingsulthliah planning ch was BSNL
- Aizawl existing then)
has been
considered in
NE planning
and subsidy
provided.
2 Lunglei -South 2 Lunglei Serchhip Option 1 USOF NE RailTel USOF NE Ring 2 is MZSD-2
Lunglei - planning Planning connecting
Buarpui - with Ring 1
Serchhip - via Serchhip.
Lunglei This connects
both Lunglei
& Serchhip
with Aizawl in
ring
redundancy.
The entire
ring covered
under USOF
49 | P a g e
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
NE planning.
50 | P a g e
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
4 Lunglei - 3 Saiha. Lunglei, Option 1 Saiha- Sangau RailTel USOF Lawngtlai 120 km MZSD-4
Lawngtlai - Lawngtlai via Bualpui NE - Saiha
Saiha - Sangau Plannin (58km )
- Hnaihthial- g & Sangau
Lunglei -
Hnaihthi
al (62km)
5 Aizawl - 1 Champhai Option 1 Aizawl - BSNL , USOF Aizawl to TRAI 100km A part of this MZSD-5
Thingsulthliah Thingsulthliah RailTel NE Champai Report is existing
- Saitual - (Covered Tender BSNL section
Kawlkulh - under USOF , TRAI # and damaged
Khawzawl- NE ) - Saitual as per TRAI
Champai (Existing report. USOF
BSNL) - may take a
Kawlkulh - call to fund
Khawzawl - this section
Champai or not.
(BSNL Existing
& Khawzawl -
Kawlkulh in
USOF NE
Scheme)
51 | P a g e
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
52 | P a g e
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
ADSS fiber,
the actual
distance may
be less.
53 | P a g e
Existing Section
Mizoram State
No. of district
New Sections
(MZSD Ring)
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
to District
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Districts
Length
Route
Ring
54 | P a g e
Table 5B: Mizoram State to District Equipment Planning
55 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio
OFC Equipment Required
(Km) n Inter-
Ring Operato
From To Operator Remarks
No. r& U/g or
Existing New OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
Tawipui- Lawngtlai 32.5 RailTel
Lunglei - Lawngtlai - 82.7 RailTel
Lawngtlai - Saiha - 58 10 New 1
MZSD 4 Saiha - Sangau - 82.4 RailTel
Sangau - Hnaihthial- 62 10 New 3
Hnaihthial- Lunglei 68.5 RailTel
Thingsulthlia
Aizawl - h 43.4 BSNL, RailTel
Thingsulthlia BSNL
h Saitual - damaged
100 km
BSNL
4 BSNL
Saitual - Kawlkulh - 100 damaged
OFC
Kawlkulh - Khawzawl- 34.9 BSNL, RailTel damage
MZSD 5
Khawzawl- Champai 41.3 BSNL d
to be laid on
aerial, 207 is
road
4
distance
between the
Champai Aizawl - 207 nodes New Aerial
Aizawl - Lengpui- 35 10 u New 1
MZSD 6 Lengpui- Mamit 60 10 u New 1
Mamit Aizawl - 95.0 a New Aerial 2
MZSD 7 Aizawl - Kawnpui - 55 u BSNL
56 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio
OFC Equipment Required
(Km) n Inter-
Ring Operato
From To Operator Remarks
No. r& U/g or
Existing New OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
Kawnpui - Kolasib 25 u BSNL
Kolasib Aizawl - 80.0 a New Aerial 1
1280.6 697.0 50.0 18 4
No. of DHQs 8
No. of DXC 4 DXC at Aizawl, Serchipp, Lunglei, lawngtlai
No. of OADM 4
No. of OA 18
57 | P a g e
Manipur
There are 9 districts in Manipur state with Imphal as its State Headquarter, which is
further divided into Imphal East and Imphal West. There are three rings planned in
Manipur to provide state to district connectivity. The details of rings along with map are
given in Table 6 below.
In the 1st ring covering Ukhrul, Imphal East & West, Senapati and Tamenglong, it is seen
that BSNL s fiber is existing and the gap from Tamenglong to Imphal West via Noney is
also partly covered under USOF NE scheme. The section where new fiber will be
required is from Nongpoh (Tamei Road) Patsoi (113 km)
In the second ring which covers Bishnupur, Churanchandrapur, Thoubal, the fiber is
either existing BSNL route or partly subsidized in planning of USOF NE, only the section
of new fiber identified is from Sangaikot Langching (7.7 km).
The Chandel district has linear connectivity on road, and while planning the District to
sub-district scheme for USOF in Manipur, BSNL existing network in Chandel was
considered. The fiber route from Chapikarong Chandel is identified as new fiber
required and already subsidized in USOF NE planning.
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda, 2.5 G
DWDM rings and repeater distance of 40 km is taken on new sections. The methodology
is explained in Section 4.6 Backhaul equipment planning.
58 | P a g e
Table 6A: Manipur State to District OFC ring
Redundancy
(MSD Ring)
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Manipur
Name of
Sections
Districts
State to
Existing
Section
District
district
Length
No. of
Route
S.No
New
Ring
1 Imphal East 5 Imphal Option Imphal East - BSNL TRAI Nongpoh 113 MASD-1
- Ukhrul - East,Ukhrul, 1 Ukhrul - Tadubi - (Tamei km
Tadubi - Senapati,Ta Senapati - Road) -
Senapati - menglong Tamenglong Patsoi
Tamenglon ,Imphal
g - Imphal West
West - East
Tamenglong - RailTel USOF NE
Nongpoh (Tamei Planning
road)
Patsoi - Imphal RailTel USOF NE
West - Imphal Planning
East
2 Imphal 3 Bishnupur, Option1 Imphal West - BSNL TRAI Sangaikot - 7.7 MASD-2
West - Thoubal, Bishnupur- Langching km
Bishnupur- Churachand Churanchandrap
churancha rapur ur
ndrapur -
Sangaikot -
Langching -
Kakching -
Thoubal -
Imphal East
- Imphal
West
59 | P a g e
Redundancy
(MSD Ring)
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Manipur
Name of
Sections
Districts
State to
Existing
Section
District
district
Length
No. of
Route
S.No
New
Ring
60 | P a g e
TABLE 6B: Manipur State To District Equipment Planning
61 | P a g e
No. of DHQs 9
No. of DXC 1 DXC at Imphal West
No. of OADM 8
No. of OA 7
62 | P a g e
Nagaland
The Nagaland State has 11 districts with state headquarter at Dimapur. BSNLs fiber is
reaching all the districts as appears from the NIC database and TRAI report referred. The
rings are planned to provide route diversity to all the districts with state headquarter at
Dimapur. In the four rings planned as shown in table 7 below, there are two sections where
new fiber is required are as Zunheboto Akuloto (30 km) BSNL damaged section as per
TRAI report and Mon to Longleng (84 km). Peren district is already linearly connected with
Dimapur as per NIC data; however it is also covered in USOF NE planning where it is SDHQ of
Kohima and a ring is planned through it. As per Google earth no direct road connectivity is
appearing but as fiber km is subsidized and so the selected operator for NE i.e. RailTel shall
provide connectivity on alternate media i.e. fiber or microwave.
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda, 2.5 G
DWDM rings and repeater distance of 40 km is taken on new sections. The methodology is
explained in Section 4.6 Backhaul equipment planning.
63 | P a g e
Table 7A: Nagaland State to District OFC Rings
District (TSD
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
Nagaland
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Sections
Districts
State to
Existing
Section
district
Length
No. of
Route
Ring)
New
Ring
1 Dimapur - 8 Dimapur,Ko Option 1 Entire ring BSNL TRAI, The Kipphire to NSD-1
Kohima - hima,Phek,K &RailTel NIC, Tuisang section is
Phek - ipphire,Long USOF seen existing in NIC
Kipphire - leng, NE data on BSNL and it
Tuesang - Tuesang Plannin is also partly
Longleng - ,Mokochung g subsidized in USOF
Mokochung , Wokha- NE scheme. The
- Wokha- Tuesang to Longleng
Niuland - to Mokochung is
Dimpaur also subsidized in
USOF NE Scheme.
2 Dimapur - 5 Dimapur, Option 2 Dimapur - BSNL TRAI, Zunehobot Googl 30 The Zunehoto - NSD-2
Kohima- Kohima, Kohima- NIC, o - Akuloto e map km Akuloto section
Zunehoboto Zunehoboto Zunehobot USOF exists as per USOF
- , o & NE NE planning data
Mokochung Mokochung, Akuloto - Plannig but as per TRAI
- Wokha - wokha Mokochun report (Nagaland
Niuland - g - Wokha - Map) & NIC this
Dimapur Niuland - section is damaged
Dimapur and not existing.
3 Dimapur - 4 Kohima, Option 3 Dimapur - BSNL & TRAI, Longleng Googl 84 Mon to Sonari is NSD-3
Kohima- Wokha, Kohima- RailTel NIC, to Mon e map km already subsidized
Wokha- Mokochung, Wokha- USOF in Mon planning in
Mokochung Longleng, Mokochun NE NE scheme. Rest is
- Longleng - Mon g- Plannin existing on BSNL
64 | P a g e
District (TSD
Redundancy
Reference
Reference
Nagaland
Operator
Remarks
Name of
Ring No.
Sections
Districts
State to
Existing
Section
district
Length
No. of
Route
Ring)
New
Ring
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TABLE 7B: Nagaland State to District Equipment Planning
66 | P a g e
OFC Distance Provisio
OFC Equipment Required
(Km) n Inter-
Ring Operato
From To Operator Remarks
No. r& U/g or
Existing New OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
Mokochung - Longleng - 95.7 BSNL 1 DXC at Longleng
Longleng - Mon- 84 10 u/g New 1
Mon- Sonari- 52.4 RailTel
Sonari- Mariani- 105 10 BSNL 1
Mariani- Golgahat- 51.8 BSNL
Golgahat- Dimapur 83.8 BSNL
Kohima - Sechu - RailTel
Sechu - jalukie _ RailTel
jalukie _ Athibung - RailTel
Athibung - Nsong _ RailTel
Nsong _ Tening - RailTel
NSD 4
Tening - Peren - RailTel
Peren - Pedi - RailTel
Pedi - New Galli - RailTel
New Galli - Ngwalwa - RailTel
Ngwalwa - Kohima RailTel
Total 1904.5 114 40 4 4
No. of DHQs 11
No. of DXC 4 DXC at Dimapur, Kohima, Longleng, Mokocheng
No. of OADM 7
No. of OA 4
67 | P a g e
Arunachal Pradesh
The Arunachal Pradesh State has 16 districts, with Itanagar as its capital. It has got difficult
terrain not all the districts can be planned in ring to have redundant routes. As Arunachal
Pradesh has difficult terrain, laying of OFC may not be afeasible option. Therefore option for
laying aerial OFC either on OPGW orADSS based technology has to be explored. The actual
requirement of Underground OFC or OPGW orADSS cable can be assessed only after a
detailed field survey.
There are 6 districts which have to be connected on linear path on fiber and route
redundancy on fiber can only be obtained by laying aerial & u/g fiber both on the same
road. These districts are Anini, Hawai, Yingkhiong, Koloriang, Bomdila & Tawang, some of
these are already considered in USOF NE planning and so fiber is subsidized under USOF NE
scheme. In the remaining new sections required are: Along Yingkiong (220 km. u/g &
aerial) and Dirang Jang (107 km)
The rest of the districts are planned with Itanagar to Tezpur ring via Assam and a sub-ring
around Tinsukia to cover Changleng & Khonsa DHQs. The details of rings are given in table 8
below.
New Sections required as analyzed using TRAI map, NIC and USOF NE & Assam Schemes
ring-wise are:
Ring for Itanagar, Ziro, Daporijo, Along, Pasghat, Roing, Tezu has following new sections
as Along Pangin (75 km), Pasighat - Dambuk (58 km)& Tezu - Parsuram Kund (45 km)
Ring for Changlang & Khonsa DHQs has new sections as: Margherita - Namtok (19 km),
Chnaglong - Khonsa (117 km) and Khonsa- Deomali (46 km) .
Ring for Seppa DHQs has new sections as : Nirjuli - Pakke keshang (102 km) , Seppa _
Bhalukpong (T point) (125 km), Bhalukpong Chariduar (31km)
The capacity aspect on these rings are done by equipment planning on 40 lambda, 2.5 G
DWDM rings as per the methodology explained in previous chapter under Backhaul
equipment planning.
68 | P a g e
Table 8A: Arunachal Pradesh State to District OFC Rings
Route Redundancy
ArunachalState to
District (TSD Ring)
Name of Districts
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Ring No.
Length
Ring
69 | P a g e
Arunachal Pradesh State to District Ring Analysis
Route Redundancy
ArunachalState to
District (TSD Ring)
Name of Districts
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Ring No.
Length
Ring
4 Roing to Anini 1 Anini Opt 1 Roing Rail USOF Roing to TRAI 204km. Assuming Railtel will lay fiber ARSD- 4
to Tel NE Anini Rep undreground under USF NE,
Anini scheme ort Aerial fiber is suggested as an
alternat epath (aerial fiber km
is subject to field survey)
5 Tezu - Hawai 1 Hawai Opt 1 Tezu Rail USOF Tezu - TRAI 161km. Assuming Railtel will lay fiber ARSD- 4
- Tel NE Hawai Rep undreground under USF NE,
Hawa scheme ort Aerial fiber is suggested as an
i
alternat epath (aerial fiber km
70 | P a g e
Arunachal Pradesh State to District Ring Analysis
Route Redundancy
ArunachalState to
District (TSD Ring)
Name of Districts
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Ring No.
Length
Ring
7 Ziro - Koloriang 1 Kolorian Opt 1 Ziro - Rail USOF Subsidized in USF NE Scheme ARSD- 4
g Kolori Tel NE in Lower Subansiri District.
ang scheme
Ziro - TRAI 164 km. Assuming Railtel will lay fiber
Koloriang Rep undreground under USF NE,
ort Aerial fiber is suggested as an
alternat epath (aerial fiber km
is subject to field survey)
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Arunachal Pradesh State to District Ring Analysis
Route Redundancy
ArunachalState to
District (TSD Ring)
Name of Districts
Existing Section
No. of district
New Sections
Reference
Reference
Operator
Remarks
Ring No.
Length
Ring
72 | P a g e
Ring No.
Ring
No. of district
Name of Districts
Route Redundancy
Arunachal Pradesh State to District Ring Analysis
ng
g-
ila-
Existing Section
kpon
Tawa
Diran
Bhalu
Jang -
Bomd
Tel
Tel
Operator
Rail
Rail
NE
NE
Reference
USOF
USOF
Scheme
Scheme
New Sections
Dirang -Jang
Reference
Length
107 km
Remarks
ArunachalState to
District (TSD Ring)
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TABLE 8B:Arunachal Pradesh State to District Equipment Planning
Existing Equipment
Provisio OFC
OFC Required
Distance n Inter-
New
Ring (KM) Operato Operat
From To OFC Remarks
No. r& U/g or or
(KM) OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
DXC at Itanagar,
Bhalukpong, Along,
112
Passighat, Tezpur and
Itanagar Ziro BSNL 1 Tinsukia
Ziro Daporijo - 159 BSNL
Daporijo - Along - 147 BSNL 1
Along -Panign (new
75 10 U/g 75km.) & Panign -
ARSD 1 Pasighat (covered in
Along - Panign New 2 USF NE
Panign pasighat - 19.5 RailTel
Pasighat - Dambuk
(New 58 km.),
58 10 U/g
Dambuk - Roing
pasighat - Dambuk New 2 (coverd in USF NE)
Dambuk roing - 24.6 RailTel
roing - Tezu - 68.2 10 BSNL 1
74 | P a g e
Existing Equipment
Provisio OFC
OFC Required
Distance n Inter-
New
Ring (KM) Operato Operat
From To OFC Remarks
No. r& U/g or or
(KM) OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
75 | P a g e
Existing Equipment
Provisio OFC
OFC Required
Distance n Inter-
New
Ring (KM) Operato Operat
From To OFC Remarks
No. r& U/g or or
(KM) OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
76 | P a g e
Existing Equipment
Provisio OFC
OFC Required
Distance n Inter-
New
Ring (KM) Operato Operat
From To OFC Remarks
No. r& U/g or or
(KM) OA DXC
coiling Aerial
etc
Bhalukpong
31 10 U/g
- Chariduar - New 1
Chariduar - Tezpur - 26.5 BSNL
Tezpur - Itanagar 163 BSNL
Bhalukpong
98.3
- Bomdila- Railtel
Bomdila- Dirang - 33.6 Railtel 1
ARSD 5
OA(2 in new & 1 at
107 10 U/g
Dirang - Jang - New 3 jang)
Jang - Tawang 96 Railtel
Total 3297.5 1474 110 39 6
Note 1
Note 2
No. of DHQs 16
No. of DXC 6
No. of OADM 10
No. of OA 39
77 | P a g e
Sikkim
The Sikkim state has 4 districts viz. North, South, East and West Sikkim with
headquarters at Mangan, Namchi, Gangtok & Geyzing respectively. Gangtok is the state
capital. The updated data of underground fiber in Sikkim is not readily available. As per
TRAI report, the new fiber required is between Mangan to Geyshing (115km) and the
ring is formed connecting all the four districts Gangtok Namchi Geyshing Mangan
Gangtok. The same is considered for CAPEX estimation here.
The equipment planning capacity is done for the ring above with one DXC proposed at
Gangtok, 3 Optical Add Drop Multiplexers (OADMs) at the rest of three headquarters,
and 2 (Optical Amplifiers) OAs at the new fiber route (repeater distance 40 km. taken ).
78 | P a g e
Sikkim State to District Ring
Provision Equipment
OFC
New Inter- Required
Existing
Ring No. From To OFC Operator Operator Reference Remarks
OFC U/g or
(km) & coiling OA DXC
Aerial
etc
TRAI
1
Gangtok Mangan 64 BSNL Report
TRAI
115 10 2
Mangan Geyzing U/g New Report
SSD 1
TRAI
Geyzing Namchi 60 BSNL Report
TRAI
Namchi Gangtok 76 BSNL Report
200 115 10 Total 2 1
No. of DHQs 4
No. of DXC 1 DXC at Gangtok
No. of OADM 3
No. of OA 2
79 | P a g e
Details of Operator Fiber km. Existing & New
The existing dominant operators BSNL,RailTel and PGCIL are provided additional subsidy
on their existing sections and for new fiber and mandate the bandwidth lease at lower
tariff. The incumbent operators may sign an agreement among themselves so as make
use of the existing fiber of each other (fiber swapping / bandwidth swaping).
The factor of lease on entire existing fiber on IRU basis may be taken and including the
new fiber laying cost while calculating the subsidy and provided through tender to any
operator who provides bandwidth from state to district at reduced tariff as prescribed in
the tender. This will ensure a level playing field for all operators.
80 | P a g e
4.10 CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
North East region has generally tough terrain and subject to problems of landslide
fiber cut, and some remote places are naxal and insurgency prone area. Therefore
option for laying aerial OFC either on OPGW or ADSS based technology has to be
explored. Though per KM cost for OPGW cable is Rs 3 lakh, ADSS cable is Rs 5 lakh
and underground OFC rate varies from section to section depending on soil (rocky,
soft & hard) in NER, however, for budgetary investment requirement an average cost
of Rs 8 lakh per KM is taken. It does not include RoW, as it varies from state to state.
The estimated cost in the table below is the new fiber required to complete physical
rings required between state to state and state to district less the existing fiber
available as per NIC and TRAI report and the sections where subsidy is already
provided through USOF Assam & NE schemes for District to Sub district connectivity.
The actual requirement of Underground OFC or OPGW or ADSS cable can be
assessed only after a detailed field survey.
Note: The OFC laying cost Rs. 8 lakhs per km taken is a budgetary cost. Although the
supply cost of 24F OFC is approximately Rs. 48,000 per km but the commissioning
cost varies depending on the terrain and ROW. Hence due to difficult terrain the
supply plus commissioning cost of OFC is taken as Rs. 8 lakhs per km excluding RoW
charges. The above cost includes all taxes and duties except Octroi and local taxes.
81 | P a g e
Equipment Summary
Equipment
Equipment Cost (RS)
Quantity
Total Cost
Total Cost
Sl. No. State (in Rs
(Rs)
OA OADM DXC OA OADM DXC Crores)
6.85
1 Assam 5 24 3 2,500,000 36,000,000 30,000,000 68,500,000
2.85
2 Meghalaya 7 10 1 3,500,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 28,500,000
5.50
3 Mizoram 18 4 4 9,000,000 6,000,000 40,000,000 55,000,000
4.90
4 Tripura 6 7 1 3,000,000 6,000,000 40,000,000 49,000,000
2.55
5 Manipur 7 8 1 3,500,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 25,500,000
5.25
6 Nagaland 4 7 4 2,000,000 10,500,000 40,000,000 52,500,000
9.45
7 Arunachal 39 10 6 19,500,000 15,000,000 60,000,000 94,500,000
1.55
8 Sikkim 2 3 1 1,000,000 4,500,000 10,000,000 15,500,000
Total 88 73 21 44,000,000 109,500,000 210,000,000 363,500,000 38.90
Unit Costs In Rs
OA 500,000
OADM 1,500,000
DXC 10,000,000
Notes:
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For OADM cost, it is assumed that 40 lambda ROADM costs around $ 11000 i.e. approx 7 lakh plus for dropping/adding 2 lambdas, 4 transponders are required.
The cost of each transponder is approx 1.5 lakh. Hence we assume a total cost of 15 lakh for 1 OADM for budgetary purpose. Actual cost shall be arrived
through tender process. Optical Amplifier shall wok as a regenerator and it is deployed at stations where distance between two OADMs has exceeded 40 Km.
The budgetary cost is taken as 5 lakh per OA. Digital Cross Connect (DXC) is assumed to be of 40 lambda capacity. The functionality includes OADM and Inter
district ring traffic routing. Cost is taken as Rs 1 Crore per DXC as budgetary estimate. All the above costs are inclusive of taxes and duties except Octroi and
local taxes.
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4.11 OPERATING EXPENDITURE
Successful telecom business is very much about keeping operation and maintenance
costs low. Depending on network design, the maintenance and operations can be
more complex, more labor intensive, more prone to human mistakes and therefore
more costly.
With the robust growth of SDH worldwide, many O&M issues have arisen. In
particular, commissioning and maintenance of equipment is a critical issue.
Maintenance involves routine maintenance and fault locating.
The O&M office will administrate number of equipment and OFC maintenance
teams. O&M implies following functions/activities:
Preventive maintenance
Breakdown maintenance
Configuration/ re-configuration/ upgradation/ expansion
Arranging for shipping of defective equipment for repair
Arranging to up keep test and measuring equipment, their repair and
calibration
Periodic functional and electrical testing as required
The O&M team personnel shall also supervise and carry out acceptance testing
in rollout phase. The strategy should be for commercial utilization to begin as
84 | P a g e
soon as parts of networks are rolled out. This requires advance planning with
industry, stake-holders, and potential customers and initiate soft launch which
means running live traffic and services without charging and helps to de-bug the
equipment and processes and builds up customer confidence.
The planning of OFC teams is done on basis of approximately 250 km OFC spread
per maintenance team.
Planning for 4 hour or 6 hour average restoration time in rural areas would
mean very high cost of operating expenses and about 12 hour typical restoration
time would be economically possible comprising of average 6 to 8 hour
travelling time and 4 hour splicing time subject to weather conditions and other
logistics. 6 to 8 hour travelling time implies travelling distance of 240 km approx.
Therefore Splicing technicians are planned, each supported by two semi-skilled
workmen for cable handling etc. Based on above discussion total personnel
proposed are:
Splicer 1
Workmen 2
The equipment team planning is economically done on basis of 1 team per state.
This distance is not too much considering that NOC can also do many control,
monitoring and configuration functions.
Each team will be responsible for the assigned state head quarter and the all the
districts headquarters of the state including the ring configuration.
For routine maintenance at SDH node like battery up keep, attending to power
supply faults, minor intervention in equipment it is proposed to have one
engineer/team.
85 | P a g e
Eqpt. O&M Cost/ per team
Qty. per
team Unit
per budgetary
No. Item Unit year Cost Cost / Year
Team Description:
Team for Eqpt. configuration, bandwidth provisioning end-end-end basis for customer traffic,
eqpt. O&M procedures, periodical testing, battery + power plant + earth system O&M
procedures, supporting customer in technical interconnections, maintaining SLA
1 Manpower:
1.1 Engineer (1 per team) Manmonth 12 80,000 960,000
1.2 Regular Helper Manmonth 12 15,000 180,000
Sub-total 1,140,000
2 Vehicle
2.1 New Vehicle net of resale cost (5 yr. period) set 0.2 450,000 90,000
Fuel Liters (diesel) provision for 100 Km per day and 10 Km per liter i.e. 10 liter per day
2.2 equivalent to 10x30x12 = 3600 liter Liter 3600 70 252,000
2.3 Maintenance cost provision averaged over a year incl. Spares set 100,000
2.4 Driver Manmonth 12 15,000 180,000
Sub-total 622,000
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ESTIMATED ANNUAL OFC MAINTENANCE COST PER TEAM
Qty.
per
team Unit
per budgetary
No. Item Unit year Cost Cost / Year
Team Description:
Team for OFC preventive and breakdown maintenance regular route
patrolling fully equipped with vehicle, splicing machine, OTDR,
consumables, spare joint boxes and interruption cables, FO tool box and
other accessories required.
1 Manpower:
1.2 Regular Helper (semi skilled work men) Manmonth 24 15,000 360,000
1.3 Casual Labour for route works during maintenance Mandays 100 500 50,000
Sub-total 1,370,000
2 Vehicle
2.1 New Splicing Vehicle net of resale cost (5 yr. period) set 0.2 500,000 100,000
Fuel Litres (diesel) provision for 150 Km per day and 10 Km per liter i.e. 15
2.2 litre per day equivalent to 15x30x12 = 5400 liter Liter 5400 70 378,000
2.3 Maintenance cost provision averaged over a year incl. Spares set 100,000
87 | P a g e
3.3 Splicing consummable per month set 12 200 2,400
3.4 F.O. Tool Box cost divided over 5 yr. period set 0.2 150,000 30,000
3.5 Miscellaneous accessories cost divided over 5 yrs. Period set 0.2 5,000 1,000
Sub-total 213,400
4 Spares
4.1 Spare Joint boxes no. 10 3,000 30,000
4.2 OFC (for maintenance work) Km 0 -
Total direct cost per fully equipped team 2,371,400
Recommendation on OPEX
The costs given above for OFC & Equipment maintenance team are per team annual costs. Since the new OFC planned in transmission media is
sparsely spread and is not on a continuous stretch, a separate team provisioning for maintenance of the same shall be uneconomical. In most
of the cases the dominant operator in a state shall be rolling out the incremental OFC and the existing O&M team and resources shall suffice
for the maintenance of the incremental part. The O&M costs being high in North Eastern States, adequate provisioning of this may be
considered while calculating thesubsidy component.
However, BSNL and RailTelunder USOF Assam & NE projects have already been allotted subsidy which has considered the high OPEX costs.
Therefore this shall cover the state to state & State to district portion also. As same fiber & equipment maintenance team may be used to
maintain the infrastructure.
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5. COVERAGE FOR UNCOVERED NATIONAL HIGHWAYS (NH) OF NORTH
EAST STATES OF INDIA
5.1 Introduction:
Based on the TRAI Recommendations dated Sep 2013, in this chapter analysis is done for
providing 2G Coverage for uncovered NH of NE states which include Assam, Meghalaya,
Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh. The state, Sikkim was also
considered for arriving at the CAPEX for the same.
The NH network in the above mentioned states is of 8480 Km in length (Reference Ministry
of Development of North Eastern Region; http://www.mdoner.gov.in/content/national-
highways). As per data available at NIC it is found that 1272 Km of the Highways has no 2G
coverage which is 15% of 8480 Km of highway. The NH no. 229 of 1090 Km length in
Arunachal Pradesh could not be located in the NIC database hence extrapolated
considering 3 Km per BTS with the assumption based on 50% area uncovered as per TRAI
report. The state wise detail of uncovered NH is given below in tabular format.
Table: 5.1
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Total Uncovered No. of
Length in Length in Uncovered BTS
S.No. NH State Km Km Length in % required
18 44-A Tripura 65 8 12.31 1.00
19 44-A Mizoram 165 16 9.70 2.00
20 51 Assam 22 0 0.00 0.00
21 51 Meghalaya 127 0 0.00 0.00
22 52 Assam 540 5 0.93 1.00
Arunachal
23 52 Pradesh 310 44 14.19 9.00
24 52-A Assam 15 0 0.00 0.00
Arunachal
25 52-A Pradesh 42 0 0.00 0.00
26 52-B Assam 31 13 41.94 3.00
Arunachal
27 52-B Pradesh 450 0 0.00 0.00
28 53 Assam 100 0 0.00 0.00
29 53 Manipur 220 97 44.09 16.00
30 54 Assam 335 70 20.90 11.00
31 54 Mizoram 515 22 4.27 4.00
32 54-A Mizoram 9 0 0.00 0.00
33 54-B Mizoram 27 8 29.63 2.00
34 61 Assam 20 0 0.00 0.00
35 61 Nagaland 220 62 28.18 10.00
36 62 Assam 5 0 0.00 0.00
37 62 Meghalaya 190 34 17.89 7.00
38 150 Nagaland 36 8 22.22 1.00
39 150 Manipur 523 114 21.80 18.00
40 150 Mizoram 141 8 5.67 1.00
41 151 Assam 14 0 0.00 0.00
42 152 Assam 40 0 0.00 0.00
43 153 Assam 20 0 0.00 0.00
Arunachal
44 153 Pradesh 40 8 20.00 1.00
45 154 Assam 110 0 0.00 0.00
46 154 Mizoram 70 20 28.57 3.00
47 155 Nagaland 125 111 88.80 17.00
48 155 Manipur 5 0 0.00 0.00
Arunachal
49 229 Pradesh 1090 545 50 109
8480 1272 15.00 233
90 | P a g e
It is mandated by TRAI that there be complete 2G coverage on the National Highway network of
the above states in North Eastern region. Bench marking of BTS requirement along with its
capacity and infrastructure cost has been studied and reported below. GSM was taken for study
as the same is wide spread in NE area however the TSPs can use CDMA technology also.
5.2 Assumptions:
The assumptions used to arrive at the CAPEX required for providing the NH 2G coverage are as
given below,
5.3 References:
The reference documents used are,
a.) TRAI recommendations dated Sep 2013.
b.) Report on USOF scheme for uncovered villages and National Highways.
c.) The current 2G infra-structure data of various service providers available on NIC GIS
system.
d.) Cost Reference: Vendor costs, Ministry of Renewable energy and BSNL tender No
CA/NOW-CM/LWE-BSS/T-445 for setting up of 2G infrastructure.
5.4 Methodology:
The GIS data was studied and analyzed and based on design guidelines the numbers of site
were arrived at.
BSS planning
While planning low power BTS (micro BTS) were consider as power requirement is the key
factor for areas without grid power. BTS was categorized as per coverage and population
followed by antenna height and wattage rating of TRX. Limitation of DOT for maximum
radiation of 43 dBm was taken care and thus distance was limited to 3.25 KM (each side) at
maximum in the topography of North East was the main constraint for small distance coverage.
For radio propagation calculation Okumura-Hata model (GM 900MHz) of dense forest and
inside the vehicle signal strength was considered. Other parameters were taken as standards
followed for link budget calculation. In cases where backhaul on microwave is required, to get
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Line of sight (LOS) the tower location need to be shifted away from the target population. The
minimum TRX power of 5 Watt is taken in such cases as against the ideal need of 2Watt TRX
power, so as to cover the village even from a distance. The actual survey shall decide the TRX
power and where ever possible TRX power radiation may be reduced below 5 watt so as to
avoid unnecessary radio radiation. For all types of BTS, nos. of TRX was calculated keeping
GPRS/EDGE provision of at least 128 Kbps. Below given are the BTS categories with respect to
Antenna height and TRX watt rating. For deriving required TRX value for a particular site
following are assumed.
Table-5.2
For BSC planning micro BSCs ware considered for lesser power requirement and portable size.
Such BSCs have upto 50 TRX capacity and can be easily commissioned at remote sites like NE
area. Cost of BSC along with its power requirement have been build up on BTS cost on per TRX
basis. Similarly cost of OMC-R is also build upon BTS cost. There is no need for a separate NOC
to be established.
Table-5.3
1 A 144 6
2 B 89 4
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Antenna requirement are to be decided after site finalization. Hence in all the above BTS types
antenna may be Omni, Directional or Sectorial type depending on the tower location. Such
design can be implemented by using splitters as required. Site survey along with feasibility
study will decide the exact tower location which in return will decide the actual antenna height
and required TRX radiation power. Issues like land acquisition, statutory permissions, views of
inhabitants will also influence for site location feasibility study.
Power calculation
Power calculation was made based on Battery (with 3 days autonomy), Solar and Diesel
Generator set. Use of Renewable Energy Technology (RET) Solar is taken as mandatory at all
locations. In India the annual global solar radiation is about 5 KWh/ sqm per day with about
2300-3200 sun-shine hours per year. Solar radiations represent the earths most abundant
energy source. The perennial source of solar energy provides unlimited supply, has no negative
impact on the environment. The solar photovoltaic (PV) modules convert solar radiation from
the sun into electrical energy in the form of direct current (DC). Converting solar energy into
electricity is the answer to the mounting power problems in the rural areas especially for
remote areas of North East region of India. Solar Photovoltaic Cells (SPV) system gives quality
power out-put of 48 volt DC to charge directly the storage battery or provide direct power to
telecom installations. BTS will be powered through battery and the charging of the battery will
be made with a combination of both Solar and DG set, solar being the first preference. It is
recommended to use Tubular GEL VRLA batteries as they provide better performance under the
partial state of charge having slow rate of discharge performance ideally suits rural applications.
To make auto switching and load shearing cost of Charge Control Unit (CCU) with inbuilt SMPS
Rectifier, Solar Junction Box, Remote Monitoring and cable cost (both AC/DC) were taken.
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Table: 5.4 Power Requirements Based On BTS Types
Solar
Battery- DG Set-
S. TRX Power BTS power-
BTS Type Single unit Single Unit
No. ratting Wattage Single Unit
AH Watt KVA
Infrastructure
Under infrastructure category Tower are all considered to be Mast/ Pole tower of 30 meters.
For hilly area of North East region erection of angular tower are time consuming and difficult
job. In most of the cases the effective tower height will depend on the tower construction site
altitude with respect to the target area to be covered. For costing purpose angular tower was
consider in comparison to tubular tower as the same is more rigid and suitable for hilly areas.
Its recommended that tower design should be based on TEC GRs or as per design approved
from an organization like Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC)/ TEC/ IITs for structural
fitness, safety, load bearing capacity, ability to withstand wind speed etc. along with antenna
cost, cost of shelter along with fencing cost was consider for calculation of overall
infrastructure cost.
Other cost like transportation, Commissioning and Installation cost was also included in the
CAPEX estimation.
System configuration
The system uses centralized power plant, battery bank, SPV and diesel generator set. All these
are centrally controlled by a Charge Control Unit (CCU) for optimal powering utilization of
systems and charging of the battery bank. The CCU ensures smooth operation of the overall
powering arrangement without any manual intervention. Its design will ensure optimal energy
transfer from the SPV system using MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technique and
automatic switching on/off of DG set on the basis of battery charge condition. For design
purpose, Depth of Discharge (DoD) for the battery is taken as 80% of its capacity and the DG set
is consider to trigger only when battery is discharged below 40% of its capacity. Such
combination will make optimum uses of diesel and hence cost saving along with lower level of
pollution is taken care off.
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A schematic diagram of system design:
SMP BTS
S
GEN
Sol
ar Solar
CCU Jun Photo
BATTER ctio
Voltaic
n
Y BANK Box (SPV)
Module
5.5 BTS Cost Details
Bellow given cost components per site. The components are divided in to five category.
BTS with Antenna along with BSC & OMC-R 350,000 455,000
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Description Cost in INR Cost in INR
BTS conf. 2 of 5 watt 2 of 10 watt
BTS Category A B
Power
Battery with Racks, connector and other
330, 000 375,000
accessories
Solar power system with civil works,
400,000 520,000
Racks, connector and other accessories
Charge Control unit (CCU) 300,000 500,000
DG Set (For emergency charging) 100,000 150,000
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5.6 Result analysis:
Result of the highway 2G coverage study shows that a total of 233 nos. of BTS are
required for a complete 2G coverage on the national Highways of North east region.
25.558211 94.310467
1 26.270678 94.520853 B
2 26.259220 94.556569 B
3 26.275764 94.589364 B
4 26.271344 94.635194 B
5 26.220381 94.620603 B
6 26.179597 94.814408 B
7 26.200142 94.870048 B
8 26.190651 94.899212 B
9 26.113394 94.875786 B
10 26.043559 94.887617 B
11 26.025348 94.866734 B
12 26.009861 94.843433 B
13 25.948819 94.784488 B
14 25.618491 94.504968 B
15 25.614844 94.481597 B
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S.No. Latitude Longitude BTS type
16 25.592371 94.429457 B
17 25.581049 94.339473 B
NH-150 25.664771 94.193775
25.516722 94.298526
1 25.522228 94.324362 B
NH-39 25.919229 93.730024
25.520530 94.132314
1 END POINT B
NH-36 NA
MANIPUR
NH-155 NA
NH-39 25.516306 94.133488
24.251596 94.299266
1 NA
NH-150 25.501242 94.290853
24.2387 93.026877
1 25.482399 94.345298 B
2 25.499395 94.391735 B
3 25.459375 94.485784 B
4 25.425879 94.513674 B
5 25.387496 94.534569 B
6 25.34467 94.534658 B
7 25.289749 94.482604 B
8 25.245168 94.453061 B
9 25.178340 94.409332 B
10 25.027647 94.315224 B
11 24.342952 93.49483 B
12 24.345112 93.430661 B
13 24.313206 93.357706 B
14 24.268679 93.230479 B
15 24.261946 93.158679 B
16 24.247073 93.133861 B
17 24.243165 93.07532 B
18 24.230953 93.039775 B
NH-53 24.807815 93.11565
24.806911 93.933898
A
1 24.789444 93.191929 A
A
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S.No. Latitude Longitude BTS type
2 24.816757 93.245782 B
3 24.795891 93.256981 B
4 24.720016 93.263082 B
5 24.764405 93.297788 B
6 24.765809 93.366949 B
7 24.756998 93.389096 B
8 24.788723 93.459741 B
9 24.849604 93.497806 B
10 24.825948 93.522193 B
11 24.813812 93.552753 B
12 24.786426 93.697418 B
13 24.787162 93.73375 B
14 24.790115 93.770396 A
SIKKIM
NH-31A 27.499303 88.534033
27.174299 88.530006
1 27.455633 88.527156 A
ASSAM
NH-31, Full
31B,31C and Coverage
152
NH-52 26.344631 91.728645
27.840254 95.221156
1 27.566324 94.807196 A
NH-52B 27.488535 94.91967
27.557486 95.200677
1 27.518482 94.984111 B
2 A
27.539217 95.093334
3 A
NH-37 26.196037 90.562799
27.85666 95.765027
1 27.801066 95.665461 A
NH-39 26.630534 93.727232
25.923767 93.731125
1 26.580338 93.809158 A
NH-36 26.347361 92.684977
25.904133 93.680758
1 92.937044 26.13674 B
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S.No. Latitude Longitude BTS type
2 A
26.002664 93.318046
3 A
4 25.966028 93.497253 B
5 25.958112 93.583098 B
16 25.923226 93.626357 B
NH-54 26.111991 92.865145
24.5216 92.76362
1 25.868389 93.053627 B
2 25.851397 93.086242 B
3 25.828223 93.088645 B
4 25.799171 93.132934 B
5 25.696109 93.128272 B
6 25.573052 93.09068 B
7 25.417237 93.128468 B
8 25.342986 93.134593 B
9 A
25.071314 92.892951
10 A
11 24.549958 92.774034 B
NH
151,44,154,37A,38,
51,53,61,52A,62,15 Full
3 Coverage
ARUNACHAL
PRADESH
NH-52 27.870731 95.30964
27.639032 95.801003
1 A
28.20175 95.549143
2 A
3 A
28.180497 95.649912
4 A
5 A
28.131737 95.734946
6 A
7 27.99369 95.94423 B
8 27.909907 95.946049 B
9 27.772683 95.979286 B
NH-153 27.356884 95.998439
27.247668 96.152907
1 27.317689 96.05384 B
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S.No. Latitude Longitude BTS type
NH-37, 52A and
52B Full
Coverage
TRIPURA
NH-44 24.432164 92.248105
23.034874 91.721462
1 24.402517 92.240864 B
2 A
23.945081 91.957607
3 A
4 A
23.896513 91.765481
5 A
NH-44A 23.996952 91.993907
23.828442 92.049031
1 23.896217 92.003289 B
MEGHALAYA
NH-51 25.897416 90.518933
25.204016 90.227755
NH-62 25.906588 90.775118
25.251987 90.632137
1 25.833805 90.77935 B
2 25.721243 90.822411 B
3 A
25.580916 90.72915
4 A
5 A
25.390483 90.680837
6 A
7 25.259075 90.642601 A
NH-44 25.515039 91.26678
25.047189 92.441075
1 A
25.084508 92.418416
2 A
NH-40 26.041368 91.867722
25.440649 92.196739
MIZORAM
NH-44A 23.934599 92.367956
23.754364 92.728925
1 23.915062 92.380443 B
2 23.892135 92.576601 B
NH-54 24.519931 92.763053
22.313239 93.026366
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S.No. Latitude Longitude BTS type
1 22.894255 92.862649 B
2 A
22.396852 92.95899
3 A
4 22.397127 93.013451 B
NH-54A 22.907586 92.470421
22.85134 92.791104
NH-150 24.215581 92.54903
24.047185 92.670495
1 24.12733 92.613086 B
NH-154 24.232578 93.018491
23.734254 92.847331
1 24.22776 92.990954 B
2 24.151563 92.941877 B
3 23.936805 92.92737 B
NH-54B 22.466569 92.955412
22.487111 92.984337
1 22.470932 92.96668 A
2 22.490286 92.952482 A
Note: For NH no. 229 of 1090 Km in Arunachal Pradesh 50% is uncovered and for the same 109 BTS of
type A is considered.
The above table shows the National highways running in states of North East and the type of
BTSs required for seamless 2G coverage on the highways with the latitude & longitude details.
All highways are covered with BTS of two categories: A & B. The BTS details with its antenna
height, number of TRX and sector requirements is given in a table above. The cost reference
taken and break down item wise is shown below. As power supply is difficult to have at the
sites hence total power requirement is also shown in the table. Battery autonomy is taken for 3
days irrespective of BTS type. Capacity of battery was calculated made considering solar and
diesel generator set to be as backup for battery charging where solar charging will be given
priority over DG set. On an average sunshine was considered to be for 6 hours a day and the
Depth of Discharge (DoD) for the battery is taken as 80%. Battery when discharge below 40% of
its capacity will trigger the DG set provided that there is no solar charging available at that
moment. Such circuit design is possible through DCPDB board and automatic change over
switch.
Cost of sites with respect to BTS type and total number of BTS types is given below.
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Table- 5.7
Total numbers of
Total numbers of
Single unit power- Single
BTS Wattage
Cost of
Antenna
S. No.
BSC
BTS
Unit Site with
Cost of respect to
Site in BTS Type
Lakh in Rs
AH Watt KVA INR crores
1 A 5 2 1+1 150 144 6 417 1333 0.69 37.80 54.43
2 B 10 3.25 1+1 200 89 4 521 1667 0.87 48.25 42.94
Total cost comes out to be INR 97.37 Crore for 233 no. of sites.
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5.6 Key Observation:
It is observed that due to non availability of power source in remote areas of North East
highways the cost per site increases many folds. It may be observed that the cost of BTS
is only some 10% of site cost. The maximum of the cost is contributed by power system
having both solar and DG sets. Hence BTS power rating would be a key factor on the
overall budget estimation. It is suggested to go for low power micro BTS instead of
conventional BTS though it cost little higher. This in return will save more on the power
back up part and thus will be a better feasible solution for sites with very low return on
investment (ROI).
5.7 Recommendation
In addition to the CAPEX above, there is a huge recurring investment required to
maintain this infra structure in the form of Fiber and equipment maintenance. As the
North eastern Region has tough terrain and currently the tele-density is low, operators
do not see a lucrative business model or rate of return in this part of the country
because of the gap in huge investment of capital and operational expenses vis--vis the
revenue earned. Therefore there is a need to cover operating costs also; this will
encourage operators to provide keep providing services in NER.
The CAPEX as estimated above for the BTS deployment on uncovered highway may be
funded by USOF. This will encourage operators to establish infrastructure. As OPEX is
also very high in NER, the same can be factored by taking the net revenue (i.e. Revenue
OPEX) while calculating the subsidy. On an average OPEX per year is taken as 20% of
capex cost. Such cost includes AMC costs, manpower, drive test and optimization,
regular site maintenance, diesel etc cost. It is to mention in earlier schemes of USOF,
passive sharing of towers is mandated. However, as per current guidelines active sharing
of RAN is also allowed and the main advantage of this technology is the reduction in
CAPEX and OPEX as both active and passive component is shared by operators. The
subsidy calculation to fund the gap may consider this technology and mandate the
active sharing of RAN.
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6. Annexure
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Annexure III: Details of Fiber Km of TCIL & TRAI
S.No. State TCIL OFC km. TRAI OFC km. CAPEX (Rs cr.)
1 Assam 158 (u/g) 902 km
70 (aerial)
25.09
1 Meghalaya 123 (u/g) 296 12.69
2 Tripura 76 (u/g) 45 10.98
3 Mizoram 382 (aerial) 743 (aerial)
265 (u/g) 460 (u/g)
100 (damaged) 65.26
4 Manipur 171 (u/g) 201 (u/g)
70 (microwave) 16.21
5 Nagaland 124 km(u/g) 329 (km)
30 km. 43km(microwave)
(damaged)
17.57
6 Arunachal 845 km. (u/g) 1724 km(u/g)
Pradesh
639 km(aerial) Satellite on 6
links
136.17
7 Sikkim 125 km 115 km 11.55
Total 295.52
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