The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended a total capital investment of Rs 22.77 billion for the Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANI) and the Lakshwadeep islands for the provisioning of quality telecom services in the region. This comes after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sought TRAI’s views to provide a comprehensive plan to improve telecom services in the region. 

The one-time capex comprises Rs 17.73 billion investment for ANI. This includes an investment of Rs 10 billion in rolling out the submarine cable network, which is already approved by the planning commission. The remaining funds of Rs 5.05 billion will be invested for network rollout in Lakshwadeep islands, of which Rs 4.68 billion is for installing the submarine cable.

In addition, TRAI has recommended that the DoT as well as the union territory administration annually compensate telecom operations in the region in form of viability gap funding. This funding is recommended to be Rs 1.04 billion for ANI and Rs 0.36 billion for Lakshwadeep on annual basis for next five years. 

Apart from the submarine cables under development that connect these islands to Chennai, TRAI has recommended  that the government create a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) submarine cable at an incremental cost of about Rs 6 billion. This cable will connect ANI from Kolkata and serve as a back-up in case submarine cable from Chennai is damaged.

The regulator has also recommended that apart from connecting these regions with cables, satellite connectivity should be retained in parts of both of these UTs.