Palike earns Rs 2.5 crore from regularising optical fibre cables

The recent drive against the overhead hanging optical fibre cables (OFC) on TenderSURE roads has the desired effect as eight telecom firms applied to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to regularise them. This will fetch the Palike Rs 2.5 crore.

According to sources in the BBMP, the telecom firms which have applied to the BBMP for regularisation are Idea, Telecom Infra Ltd, Bharti AirTel, Spectra, Citycom Networks, India Cellular Ltd and Spectranet. Already, Reliance Jio, L&T and Telecom Infra have paid Rs 2.5 crore to the BBMP.

The Palike’s taxation and finance committee chairperson had launched a drive to remove overhead OFCs on TenderSURE roads two days ago as telecom firms were not using the utility ducts to shift the cables underground.

It is learnt that the firms have sought eight days’ time from the BBMP to take the cables underground.

Telecom towers

Two days after the taxation and finance committee passed a resolution to regularise towers, which are thriving illegally, a telecom firm on Thursday declared that it has put up 2,500 telecom towers in the city. This declaration will generate Rs 12.5 crore to the BBMP.

The Palike has announced that telecom firms can regularise towers by paying a one-time fee of Rs 50,000. It is estimated that there are more than 10,000 towers in the city.
DH News Service