Before 5G Rollout, Centre Mandates All States to Adopt 'Call Before You Dig' App to Save Rs 3,000 Cr

Soon, if any authority in the country has to dig the earth to lay electricity cables, water pipelines or a gas pipeline, it will have to intimate the same on a mobile application to ensure there is no damage to the expensive telecom fibre.

As India is set to roll out 5G network across the country, the Narendra Modi government has decided to extend the rollout of the ‘Call Before You Dig’ (CBUD) Mobile App to all states and Union Territories, News18 has learnt.

The CBUD App pilot was launched in Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in October this year. All states and UTs have now been told to adopt the CBUD app.

Speaking at a CII event last week, Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman had said that the cost of maintaining optic fibre is very forbidding. He said the CBUD pilot was being run to avoid damages to telecom infrastructure while digging roads and doing other infrastructure-related work. Rajaraman had said complimentary connectivity through fibre to support mobile services is very important.

As per government date accessed by News18, nearly 10 lakh optic fibre cable cuts are reported every year in India, causing huge economic losses. This also causes nearly Rs 3,000 crore of wasteful expense every year for telecom service providers and internet service providers, as well as inconvenience to citizens and business losses.

New Directions

At a review meeting with states and UTs on December 9 chaired by the Additional Secretary (Telecom), all states were told to pass directions to all underground utility or asset owners like electricity cables, water pipelines, gas pipelines and sewerage. “They should complete mapping of contact details unto district level by December 31, 2022,” says a presentation made at the December 9 review.

Further, all these utility owners will be mandated to do any type of digging only after prior intimation through CBUD. “All underground utility and asset owners are required to map their assets in PM Gatishakti NMP Portal,” as per the directions given at the review meeting.

5G Rollout

The country is presently working on 5G rollout across states and UTs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the services on October 1. This involves the development of a ‘5G Form’ and integration with the PM Gatishakti Portal as well as mapping of the same on the PM Gatishakti NMP Portal. This entire process will prepare the states to be ready for 5G rollout soon in India.

States are also forming working committees for drawing up modalities for use of government infrastructure or street furniture for establishing telecom structures, finalizing a methodology to issue common power bills and designating nodal officers for the issue and making contact details publicly available. As many as 17 states have formed such working committees, as per the said presentation.

Right of Way Pendency

However, the Right of Way (RoW) pendency for the project is high in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar, as per the presentation. While nearly 18,188 applications are pending in Tamil Nadu, around 2,724 are pending in Kerala and 1,740 in Bihar. Tamil Nadu is yet to finalise a RoW application form for 5G rollout — and so is the case in Kerala and Bihar. The Centre has asked these states to pull up their socks.

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