West Bengal adopts Centre’s telecom RoW rules, scraps 2023 state guidelines

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has formally implemented the Centre’s Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 across the state, bringing telecom infrastructure deployment under a unified national framework and withdrawing its earlier state-specific telecom infrastructure guidelines.

In a notification issued by the state’s Information Technology & Electronics Department on 15 May 2026, the government said the rules framed under the Telecommunication Act, 2023 would be deemed to have come into effect in West Bengal from 1 January 2025.

The notification clarified that all state government departments, statutory and non-statutory authorities, as well as parastatal bodies under the state’s administrative control, would now be required to comply with the central framework governing telecom infrastructure permissions.

The move follows communication from the Department of Telecommunications, which informed the state that the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 had already been notified under the Telecommunication Act, 2023 and therefore did not require a separate adoption process at the state level.

The rules are expected to streamline approvals for telecom infrastructure projects including fibre optic cable deployment, mobile towers and related network equipment across both public and private land.

In a significant accompanying decision, the state government also rescinded the West Bengal Telecom Infrastructure Guidelines, 2023 with immediate effect, effectively replacing the earlier state-level framework with the Centre’s rules.

Welcoming the development, Jyotiraditya Scindia described the move as a “significant step” towards strengthening digital infrastructure and accelerating the implementation of BharatNet in the state.

In a post on X, Scindia thanked the West Bengal government for aligning with the Centre’s telecom regulatory framework and said the implementation would help expand connectivity and improve digital access for citizens.

The Union minister also said the state had lagged behind in benefiting fully from several central digital infrastructure initiatives, adding that the new framework would strengthen last-mile service delivery under the leadership of Narendra Modi.

The Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 form part of India’s broader telecom reforms under the Telecommunication Act, 2023, which replaced the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The legislation aims to modernise the country’s telecom governance structure and create a smoother pathway for network expansion and digital connectivity projects nationwide.

For telecom operators and infrastructure providers, Bengal’s shift to the central RoW framework could mean fewer procedural bottlenecks and a faster route to rolling out the networks powering India’s digital ambitions.