Infrastructure sharing
Also called: Network sharing, Tower sharing · Topic: Infrastructure: Transport, Communications and Energy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Infrastructure sharing means telecom operators use the same towers and networks. Each company does not build its own. The simplest form is passive sharing: one tower, with its power supply and shelter, carries the antennas of several operators. Active sharing goes further, with operators sharing radio equipment or parts of the network. Remote villages have few users, so one tower there rarely earns enough to cover its cost. When operators share a tower, its building and running costs are split among them. This makes it cheaper to reach the last unserved villages, which is the hardest step in last-mile connectivity (the final link that brings a service to the end user).
Example
In the 4G Saturation Project, BSNL sites in remote villages served only about 56 users each on the busiest day in 2026. That is far too few to make a tower pay. In August 2026, a parliamentary committee recommended that operators in the north-east share towers. It had also found audit cases of duplicated infrastructure, meaning more than one tower built where one would have been enough.
Don't confuse with
- Asset monetisation: Under the National Monetisation Pipeline (2021), the government leases the usage rights of public assets, such as telecom towers, to private players for money, and keeps ownership. Infrastructure sharing is different. Operators use common towers to cut their own costs, and no public asset is leased out.