Deendayal Port only port among locations slated to be 5G ready, before planned India rollout
Nationwide four locations were chosen for pilot testing of 5G which included Delhi Airport, Bhopal Smart City, Bangalore Metro, and Deendayal Port Authority. 5G trials have already started at the DPA port
The Indian Government as part of its ambitious digital vision has initiated 5G trials in India in order to pave the path of the nation in technological advancements. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Government of India, New Delhi was entrusted to conduct 5G trials in select locations across the nation - for developing best practices and guidelines and zeroing down on required policy / regulatory interventions for small cell deployment using street furniture.
In line with this, nationwide four locations were chosen for pilot testing 5G which included Delhi Airport, Bhopal Smart City, Bangalore Metro, and the Deendayal Port Authority. As per a release from DPA, it has become the only port (Minor, Major or Private) to be 5G ready before the planned launch of 5G networks in the entire nation.
Officials from the DoT(Department of Telecommunications) visited the Port along with officials of Telecom Service Providers and infrastructure providers which included Indus Towers, Vodafone, Jio, Airtel, and BSNL on the 28th of April 2022 for the kick-off, meetings, and survey, armed with a target to start 5G trial within 90 days of the kick-off meeting.
The initial scope of the pilot at DPA included only 4 Street cells/ furniture and the same were identified for carrying out the 5G pilot. In order to make the port future-ready, the DPA administration believes that it was essential that all the street furniture should be identified in the Custom bounded area inside the port so that sufficient 5G street cells are installed in the port's operational area, so as to make D.P.A. 5G ready before the nationwide rollout of 5G.
This request of the port was accepted by Dr. P.D. Vaghela, TRAI, Chairman, cited the release from DPA on Friday. Meanwhile, the administration and officials of DPA extended all possible support, administrative approvals, and statutory permissions on a war footing to allow the use and access of the required street furniture [electricity poles, high mast structures, buildings of the Port] to aid this move.
The port has also made available 48 core Fiber Optic networks, electricity, high mast towers, etc. and made it readily available to the 5G pilot team, together with manpower, material, and machine in order to complete the project in record time. The same has been accomplished on 21st July as per the release.
This development makes DPA the first port location in India to be 5G ready as radiation started at the first site and all the other locations will also be activated by the month's end.
A committee was formed to address this development consisting of dignitaries and leaders like Manish Lodha, Joint Advisor, Regional Office Jaipur (Member), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India; Nandeesh Shukla, IRTS, Dy. Chairman-DPA; Hemant Panday, General Manager (Member TSP), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd; Satish Kumar Jha, CTO Gujarat (LEAD TSP), Vodafone Idea Ltd; Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief Regulatory Officer (LEAD IP1), Indus Towers/Bombay Gas.
The project is expected to the port in fulfilling its vision of becoming an efficient 'Mega Port' by experimenting with new automation processes on 5G networks which will improve its cargo handling efficiency.
