Indus Towers, on Wednesday won a tender from the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) that entails digital network set up by way of street lamps across the NDMC area. This is in line with the Chief Minister’s plans for a Wi-Fi enabled Delhi and ties in well with Indus’ philosophy of transforming lives by enabling communication.
 
“We are privileged to partner with NDMC in this one of a kind, unique project of building a Digital Backbone for a Smart Delhi. With a continuous endeavor to be the preferred partner to our customers, the Company will work in synergy with NDMC to provide Next Gen digital services to entire NDMC area,” said Bimal Dayal, Chief Operating Officer, Indus Towers.
 
The project which covers 18,500 street light poles set up in the entire NDMC area will see at least 3,000 poles equipped with 2G/3G/4G spread across a span of three years, with target of 1,000 poles each year. The poles will additionally be upgraded with LED lights (consuming lesser energy), CCTV cameras (for video surveillance), Wi-Fi access points (to cover all road lengths) and optical fibre networks (to backhaul the telecom traffic) as well.
 
“We are very pleased with this development. Indus Towers, strongly believes in its philosophy of ‘Putting India First’. We will continue to work with NDMC and all other authorities to create a robust and efficient NextGen digital services network with maximum ease and optimum costs. Connecting Lutyen’s Delhi with NextGen technologies will be a step further in our Vision of transforming lives by enabling communication,” said B.S. Shantharaju, Chief Executive Officer, Indus Towers.
 
In order to execute this large project of 3,000 2G/3G/4G enabled poles, Indus will be setting up a dedicated project management team in consultation with the NDMC authority and the telecom operators to install robust outdoor equipment in weather-proof and tamper-proof casing, ensuring low maintenance and security. Indus Towers and partner telecom operators will be investing around INR 220 crore over three years to build this strong digital layout for the entire NDMC area. The project will help create common infrastructure which can be shared by multiple telecom operators to provide their mobile and broadband services to citizens of Delhi. 
 
Indus Towers’ unique proposition of building shared infrastructure and its partnership with NDMC will enable many future energy saving initiatives like Wi-Fi/LED/CCTV etc. which will help build Delhi as a world class, future generation Smart City. The first of its kind partnership will also provide capex efficiency significantly by enabling a platform which will support to host multiple technologies like 2G, 3G, 4G and optical fibre. This partnership creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders - NDMC, operators and the citizens of Delhi.