PGCIL will bear the capital expenditure for infrastructure changes that would be required to add telecom setup, and the money will be recovered from telecom operators.
State-owned power transmission firm Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) can now offer its electricity towers to telecom operators.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has given approval on the same to address the issue of deficiency of telecom coverage in remote areas.
Financial Express reported that PGCIL will bear the capital expenditure for infrastructure changes that would be required to add telecom setup (about Rs 20 lakh/location), and the money will be recovered from telecom operators.
Revenue from the business, after meeting costs, would be shared on a 50:50 basis with beneficiaries of the electricity transmission system, the report said.
Annual revenue from this initiative is estimated to be between Rs 68 crore and Rs 324 crore, subject to the number of towers leased out. Monthly rentals are expected to range between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 per month, which is 12-18 per cent lower than the average industry rates.
PGCIL to use electricity to power the telecom system
To feed power to the telecom system, PGCIL plans to use the electricity in its network, which otherwise gets wasted by going into the ground through earthing.
PGCIL owns more than 2.5 lakh towers, but only about 12,700 towers can technically accommodate the telecom system. Out of these, only about 6,000 towers can be used for the telecom business as of now, as mobile operators are looking for places where at least 3,500 people live nearby, KPMG said in a report.
PGCIL already owns and operates 47,735 km of telecom network, but the `196-crore revenue from this business comprised only 2.3 per cent of its total income in Q3FY19, the report said.
