Context: Recently, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Railways, has launched the “GatiShakti Sanchar” portal for Centralised Right of Way (RoW) approvals.

The Portal

• It  is a collaborative institutional mechanism between all stakeholders including Central and State/UT Government(s), Local bodies and Service Providers to facilitate the Right of Way(RoW) Application Process through a single interface.
• Purpose: The portal will enable applicants from various Telecom Service providers (TSPs) as well as Infrastructure providers (IPs) to apply for Right of Way permissions to lay down Optical Fiber Cable. Also for erecting mobile towers for State/UT Governments and local bodies.
• Developed by: MP state Electronics Development Corporation on behalf of the Department of Telecommunications(DoT).
• The portal is an online platform for the industry to apply for Right of Way (RoW) approvals as they build telecom infrastructure, including for 5G services.

Advantages of this portal

• Fast laying of more Optical Fiber Cable thus will accelerate fiberization.
• Increased tower density will enhance connectivity and improve the quality of various telecom services.
• Increased fiberization of telecom towers, thus ensuring better Broadband speed, across the country.

Significance of this portal

• It will offer a unified, integrated, centralised approach covering all states and UTs, and central government ministries.
• It will reduce the days involved in getting stipulated permissions, lower costs, and will facilitate ease of doing business.
• The portal shall act as an enabler to the objective of “Ease of doing business” for telecommunications infrastructure.
• It would also provide a robust mechanism to achieve our goal of “Broadband to All” as envisaged in the National Digital Communication Policy-2018.