Industry body Assocham has requested the government to direct state transmission utilities to take necessary steps to optimise the utilisation and monetisation of their spare optical ground wire capacity.
A passive optical network or optical ground wire is a dual functioning cable. Besides transportation of power, these can be used for telecommunications purposes, Assocham said, adding that various state transmission utilities presently own and operate around one lakh km of such infrastructure with “ample spare optical ground wire (OPGW) capacity”.
In a letter to Power Minister R K Singh, Assocham said “there is a significant opportunity to monetise unutilised passive fibre infrastructure already built… by the various state transmission utilities (STUs).”