Indus Towers: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

As we make progress, the concept of smart city will mature in India. Unlike the present airport model or highway model, wherein the investor is mainly focused on collecting revenue from citizens, the model here is different as there is no transactions with citizens, says Neelesh Kelkar, National Head-Smart Cities, Indus Towers, in conversation with Gopi Arora of Elets News Network.

- Neelesh Kelkar

How did Indus Towers foray into telecom and Smart Cities segment in India?

Indus Towers was formed as a joint venture between three competitors some 10 years back. The company was based on a unique business model which was referred to as a business case study at the Harvard School, and prompted the founders to come together to form a mutuallybeneficial vision of improving the overall Indian landscape, with special focus on telecom infrastructure.

The concept was about a shared infrastructure—kind of technology neutral—which at the same time offered the tenacity to do multiple things. That is the unique business proposition Indus has been focusing upon all these years and today it has emerged as a very successful business proposition.

Of late, apart from shared infrastructure networks are also getting denser. After the launch of 3G and 4G and now soon to be launched 5G services, we see the emergence of two issues that need to be addressed.

Firstly, there is a capacity enhancement requirement; while the coverage is adequate, the capacity is not. So, we need to add more smart structures. The distance between two telecom towers is coming down too. So, if the distance between two towers is decreasing, to say 150 meters or less than that, then we have to develop in public areas smart infrastructure which will be a pole that we call ‘street furniture’. Street furniture is all those street infra elements like Bus stops, public utilities etc . Without disturbing the city landscape, this smart infrastructure would no more be in the form of a conventional tower we are used to seeing.