NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a Mini Ratna PSU under the Ministry of Railways, has received a Work Order from Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City Limited (PCSCL) for providing end-to-end services for monetisation of PCSCL City Network Infrastructure on “Revenue Sharing Model” for 10 years. It is the first of its first-of-its-kind order bagged by RailTel to monetise the Telecom infrastructure of a Smart City. The Pimpri Chinchwad city is in Pune area & is the eighteenth most populous city in India and the fifth-largest in the state of Maharashtra. During monetisation, RailTel shall generate revenue through leasing arrangements. The projected Estimated Annual Revenue is ₹ 70 Crores with total revenue of ₹700 Crores for 10 years.
RailTel shall pay 32.4 Cr of fixed revenue to PCSCL annually. Additionally, RailTel shall pay a minimum of 21 % as additional revenue to PCSCL over the total additional revenue generated for 10 years.
The project also entails setting up of a Network Operation Centre (NOC), operations and maintenance of the existing digital infrastructure connecting citizens, government, business, communities and future extension of PCSCL network Infrastructure along with operations & maintenance activities for a period of 10 years. Also, the project involves making the PCSCL self-sustainable organisation and to evolve its credit worthiness for raising additional resources from the market Under this Smart city network project, OFC and Telecom duct network infrastructure of PCSCL covering all the critical and major areas like PCMC offices, police stations, critical junctions, footfall area etc, under the PCMC municipal limits shall be monetised by RailTel by leasing the spare ducts and poles.
RailTel shall also provide PCSCL-required cores of fibre cable for providing connectivity to smart city elements across the PCMC to create a digitally connected ecosystem for its citizens and to render connected, efficient, and responsive city services (PCMC, PCSCL & Police). This order has been acquired through the rigorous and open competitive bidding process based on the highest Cost Method (H1).
Commenting on the development, Sh. Sanjai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, RailTel said, “RailTel is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country. We are thrilled to collaborate with PCSCL in this transformative journey. RailTel is committed to create a digitally connected city that embraces innovation, inclusivity and economic growth. RAILTEL is eager to embark on this transformative venture and looks forward to working closely with PCSCL to achieve its vision of a digitally advanced and prosperous city.”