To meet the demands of the steep rise in data usage and to deal with increasing complaints of call drops, telecom companies are doubling up to expand network coverage. Telecom infrastructure companies added nearly 15,000 towers in 2015, more than double they installed a year ago.

“Like the voice revolution we saw 15 years back, we are now seeing a revolution in data and to support this many firms are setting up standalone towers for data. The second phase of growth is coming through data,” said Viom Networks Chief Executive Officer Syed Safawi.

“I think this pace will remain for the next couple of years, and then the industry will add another 20,000 towers a year,” he added.

For the last two-three years, network rollout has been subdued with just about 7,000 towers being added every year. A far cry from 2009-10 when 40,000 new towers were installed. Though the current rollout is still nowhere near that number, the industry is expecting the pace to pick up with the easing of the rules governing tower erection.

“Now firms are being accorded permission to set up towers on government premises and buildings. Further, there is also an increase in rollout of 3G and 4G services, which is helping addition of towers,” said Rajan S Mathews, Director General at industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India.

The increased penetration of services across rural areas is another factor helping telecom infrastructure firms, he added. India has 4.8-5 lakh towers across all the 22 telecom circles, and this is expected to touch 6 lakh in the next two-three years.

“The growth of the towers industry is bound to happen considering the Centre’s Digital India agenda will be enabled on the backbone of an efficient telecom infrastructure,” said Sameer Sinha, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Indus Towers.

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