Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday launched the GatiShakti Sanchar portal, which will centralise and speed up approvals for laying of fibre and tower installations and speed up the upcoming 5G rollout.

He added that a legal backing for the Right of Way (RoW) will be in place by December.

The portal is an online platform for the industry to apply for RoW approvals as they build telecom infrastructure, including for 5G services. It will offer a unified, integrated, centralised approach covering all states and UTs, and central government ministries.

For players, it promises to reduce the days involved in getting stipulated permissions, lower costs, and will facilitate ease of doing business.

Put simply, the RoW rules on setting up of telecom towers and cable laying, offer a framework for giving approvals, settling of disputes, and facilitates coordination between industry and various agencies.

At present, the RoW rules are based on administrative process, and a strong legal backing is required to empower local officials, bring clarity on the fee structure, and fix accountability, Vaishnaw explained.

“That will be our next step. Moreover, all the portals that are there, especially Gati Shakti portal, railway portal, highway portal, and others...integration of those...We will be working on these two technological and legal aspects,” Vaishnaw said.