In this Article I’d like to quickly summarize the trends in Indian Telecom Network Deployments after brief interactions with CTOs of Telcos and otehr High Level Technical Staff.
In the short term, Industry tower addition is likely to be weak and most towers will be added by Indus and Bharti Infratel. Tower companies are also considering re-locating some towers to increase tenancy and to reduce fuel cost in some locations. 3G network is likely to be driven by loading in the medium term. Initially, larger deployments have been in the top cities, where 80-85% of the sites have been loaded with 3G. Deployment will continue in the smaller cities.
How is the 3G Loading Done ?
3G loading is not capex intensive for Tower Company. The antenna is changed and a 4-port antenna is installed instead of a 2-port antenna. Additional modules are also put into the BTS. Electricity consumption does not change significantly.
Active sharing is currently not being allowed, but it could have some impact on tower tenancy if allowed. Currently, a tower company cannot buy a BTS, but if both companies purchase equipment from the same vendor (for example, Ericsson), active infrastructure sharing would be possible. 2G intra-circle roaming arrangements is being adopted by most operators. At the country level, 25,000-30,000 sites are seeing intra-circle roaming.
Operators could look at acquiring more spectrum. If the 3G intra-circle roaming agreement are cancelled, operators may look at buying their own 3G spectrum, if affordable.
Backhaul sharing has not yet started in a meaningful way. Right of way in cities is very expensive. Operators have started using IP radio instead of microwave, which offers them more bandwidth. However, fibre will be a long-term solution, as once installed it will take care of backhaul for 20-25 years.