As India’s long-awaited 5G auctions loom in June, with first commercial services expected to follow in limited urban areas by March 2023, the country’s government and regulators have been steering increasingly towards use of shared utility infrastructure to hasten the pace of roll-out and reduce costs for operators. In the country, the mood for sharing among MNOs is stronger than elsewhere, encouraged further by a consultation paper from regulator TRAI, entitled ‘Use of Street Furniture For Small Cell and Aerial Fiber Deployment’, published in March 2022. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had set the stage in December 2021 when it came out in full support of operators deploying small cells on electric poles, which it argued…