BMC slashes access charges for laying OFC to ₹1,000 from ₹1 lakh

Mumbai: In a significant development, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revised the access charges for laying telecom Optical Fiber Cables (OFC) in Mumbai to ₹1,000 per kilometre from ₹1,00,000 kilometre. An OFC is a cable made using fibre that is mainly used to transfer digital data signals and these cables are mainly laid by telecom companies to expand and strengthen their network across the city. The BMC has been imposing an access charge of ₹1,00,000 per kilometre since January 2014.

The Parliament had in November 2016 approved new telecom rules in a bid to aid the telecom sector. The fresh rules mandated that the access charges imposed on telecom sectors by the local governing bodies should not be more than ₹1,000 per kilometre.

In a statement, the BMC administration said that henceforth all the telecom operators will be paying the revised rate to the BMC. Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that 32 different utility agencies currently operate in Mumbai and require laying cables and pipes through the underground trenches.

“Between January 2014 and November 2016, the BMC had garnered ₹60 crores in revenue through access charges. After the parliament order came into force, all the 26 corporations in Maharashtra, including Navi Mumbai and Thane, were levying charges under the new rules, it was only Mumbai civic body that continued to charge as per the old tariffs till 2022,” said Chahal.

Meanwhile, private telecom operators have issued letters to the BMC stating that the charges levied by the civic body were illegal and demanded a refund of the additional money paid by them after the new rules came into force. Chahal stated that it would require the BMC to refund ₹150 crore to the operators which was collected post-2016.

“After verifying the documents and going through the legal aspects, we had a meeting with the telecom operators and it was decided that instead of going to court and defending the cases, we will impose the revised rate, while at the same time the BMC will not refund any money claimed by them. All the operators agreed to this and gave their consent in writing to us. The new tariffs will benefit only three telecom operators -- Vodafone, Airtel and Jio -- who are covered under the Telegraph Act. While the remaining 29 companies will have to pay as per the previous tariffs,” Chahal said.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) welcomed the move saying that this decision will lead to a quicker rollout of broadband connections across the city and will help in achieving the target of broadband for all.

“The COAI raised concerns that the proposal to recover access charges for laying the OFCs is contradictory to the Indian Telegraph Rules. We will continue to push for imposing zero access charges in BMC and other municipalities where it is being levied,” said the COAI statement.

Ravi Raja, former Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the BMC slammed the civic body for revising the charges without taking the representatives into confidence. “At a time when the civic body is facing a cash crunch, the administration is levying charges for the benefit of a certain section of private industries. This is both unethical and arbitrary and the administration will have to explain all these issues once the election is over and a new body of representatives comes into force,” said Raja.