Doordarshan transmitters to ride on power, telecom towers in border areas

In keeping with the larger governmental plan to amplify communication network in border areas amid a Chinese scale up, the Centre is preparing to maximise reach quickly through existing border infrastructure.

ET has learnt that the government has started working on a project to ride Doordarshan transmitters on to telecom and electricity towers to expand its border area network.

Both BSNL and Power Grid have been approached for the same. A DD team is expected to finish the mapping in the entire DD network border range from Gujarat to Kashmir and down to Arunachal Pradesh within next two months, said sources.

Prasar Bharti has already started working to map telecom/electricity tower network in border areas vis a vis its own ‘shadow areas’- where Doordarshan does not currently have any reach and presence.

“Border area network amplification is a clear priority area. To expand reach, it was decided that it was best to use the existing electricity and telecom infrastructure in border areas instead of setting up our own towers everywhere. The latter is capital intensive while if use the existing tower network, we can probably reach more and more remote areas in a faster and more cost-effective manner”, a highly placed official in the know told ET.

Precedents of riding on DD transmitters to electricity and telecom towers are already there in some cities.

However, this was never scaled up. After governmental discussions, it was felt that this collaborative and concerted approach will help ensure faster delivery of communication services in remote areas. While the top priority is border area network, remote areas in Left Wing Extremism hit regions are also part of the plan”, added the official.

This will feed into the Rs 2539 crore “Broadcast Infrastructure Network Development (BIND)” Scheme approved by the Union Cabinet in January this year for modernization, upgradation and expansion of All India Radio and Doordarshan for the five-year period ending 2025-26.

The idea is to create better infrastructure and widen the public broadcaster’s reach in LWE, border and strategic areas to cut the communication gap.

Better content development is also part of the plan given that DD enjoys near monopoly in these remote areas.

The challenge on the border front is higher as neighbouring country networks have been strengthened over the years especially on the Chinese side, printing the DD amplification plan.

The DD outreach plan, however, is part of a larger border strategy involving multiple ministries and government departments.

The Defence ministry also held a discussion last month involving other stakeholder ministries like Power and Railways on upgrading border area networks both logistically and through communication networks.

Wheels have already been moving.

A Rs 2,000 crore proposal to install 4G telecom towers at a thousand paramilitary manned outposts on the border is under final discussions and will be taken to Cabinet soon for approval, ET reported last month.

While the rulebooks on telecom and other installations near the border have been quite stringent, path for improved mobile network was cleared in August 2022 after considerable inter-ministerial deliberation over poor network connectivity on our side and ‘foreign airwaves’ ruling the skies.

In August 2022, an amendment was made to the Unified License agreement which allows mobile tower network penetration up to almost 500m off the border.