Subsea cable players seek easier norms, incentives

Repairing cables, Customs duty among key hurdles for developers

- SUBHAYAN CHAKRABORTY

Developers of undersea cable infrastructure, such as Bharti Airtel and Meta, on Tuesday called for incentives, easier regulations and a sustained policy push to quickly bring more subsea cables into India, and create indigenous cable repair vessels at home.

Speaking at the first-ever conference on subsea cable systems in India, organised by the Broadband India Forum, industry officials said India has great potential to become a hub for submarine cables connecting it and other countries to Europe, West Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia, given its strategic geographical position.

Partnering with telecom operators, global submarine cable consortiums have outlined plans to land multiple cables in the country.

However, the industry faces major hurdles in repairing damaged cables.

"The biggest problem for cable landing systems is fishing trawlers which break the cables regularly. The approval needed to get a repair ship to India takes 6 months. It requires officials from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to be present on the ship when maintenance is going on," Bharti Airtel's Chief Regulatory Officer Rahul Vatts said.