NHAI to develop Delhi-Mumbai expressway, Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor as digital highways.

State-run National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday said it will develop the Delhi-Mumbai expressway and the Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor as digital highways for faster rollout of technologies such as 5G networks.

The construction behemoth plans to lay around 10,000 km of optic fibre cables (OFC) across the country by FY25.

National Highways Logistics Management (NHLML), a fully owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) of NHAI, will implement the OFC network by developing integrated utility corridors along the national highways (NHs), NHAI said in a statement.

Around 1,367 km on Delhi-Mumbai expressway and 512 km on Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor have been identified as pilot routes for the digital highway development, it added.

Providing internet connectivity to remote locations across the country, the OFC network will help expedite the rollout of new-age telecom technologies like 5G and 6G, NHAI noted.

The recently inaugurated 246-km Delhi–Dausa–Lalsot section of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway features a three-metre-wide dedicated utility corridor to lay OFCs, which will serve as the backbone for the rollout of 5G network in the region. OFC laying work along the NHs has started, with completion targeted within a year.

OFC network will allow direct plug-and-play or ‘fibre-on-demand’ model for telecom/ internet services. The network will be leased out to eligible users through a fixed price allotment mechanism on an ‘open for all’ basis through a web portal. OFC allotment policy is being finalised in consultation with DoT and TRAI.

HBL