‘Right of Way’ policy approved for the telecom sector

The Right of Way (ROW) policy for telecom industry, approved by the cabinet. This will address a significant number of barriers experienced by telecos and internet service providers in the implementation and maintenance of their telecommunications equipment and the national expansion of networks.

Approved at a cabinet meeting, the announcement of the new policy will soon be communicated by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications. The objective of this policy will be to facilitate ROW for the telecommunications sector across all provinces and their associated agencies.

Telecom installations are listed as “sensitive infrastructure” by the regulation. Damaging telecommunications networks could be considered sabotage. Cases could be brought against the accused under criminal and anti-terrorism laws.

Federal IT Minister Syed Amin-ul-Haq said, “A one-window procedure would enable the development of infrastructure for the telecommunication industry.” The strategy would play a key role in achieving Digital Pakistan’s vision.

Amin-ul-Haq said that ROW could improve the processing speed of the provisions of the ROW Scheme, including space on land and in buildings for teleco infrastructure.

It’ll be effective to reduce obstacles to laying fiber optic cable and expansion of telecommunications across the country, he added. The main components of the Right of Way Policy are: fee determination, conflict resolution, security, serious health risk security and safety, telecommunications as essential infrastructure, right of way sharing, telecom infrastructure security and common services.