BSNL’s nationwide 4G community to be delayed; solely 10,000 energetic base stations arrange thus far

As Independence Day approached, expectations have been working excessive for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to lastly launch its lengthy awaited 4G community with the organising of 20,000 4G telecom BTS. Nevertheless, in keeping with the Division of Telecommunication’s personal Tarang web site, the operator has solely 10,000 energetic 4G BTS thus far. 

In and round August 15, the federal government indicated that BSNL’s 4G community was lastly able to be launched nationwide. On August 14, DoT’s official X deal with tweeted that BSNL’s ‘Atma Nirbhar 4G Community’ was set to come back to close by shops quickly. Nevertheless, trade specialists stay uncertain provided that the operator doesn’t have sufficient base stations to do a nationwide 4G launch anytime quickly. 

In January 2024, BSNL CMD Pravin Kumar Purwar mentioned the corporate would launch 4G companies in India as soon as it had 20,000 4G BTS stations.

In response to Tarang knowledge, BSNL has 1,60,000 energetic BTS, of which 84,000 are 2G BTS, 60,000 are for the 3G community, and 10,000 are 4G BTS. 

₹15,000-crore cope with TCS

In Could 2023, BSNL signed a ₹15,000-crore cope with TCS to create an indigenous 4G community. The deal entails establishing 100,000 4G websites throughout the nation and organising knowledge centres in 4 areas throughout the nation. Whereas TCS officers have claimed in earlier interactions with the media that they’re set to finish the primary section of BSNL’s 4G rollout by the tip of the 2025 fiscal 12 months, in actuality – almost a 12 months on – community completion faces many challenges and delays. 

Earlier within the 12 months, TCS consulted world community distributors Nokia and Ericsson for the institution of BSNL’s 4G community, after dealing with challenges within the roll-out. In Could, BSNL roped in consulting agency BCG to revive the belaboured operator. Sources have additionally instructed this paper that TCS continues to be in testing section in sure states akin to Punjab and Haryana. 

To place in context the progress made on BSNL’s 4G BTS community, India’s largest telecom operator, Reliance Jio, established almost 1 lakh BTS on its 5G community inside a 12 months.

Because the three non-public operators, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Concept and Bharti Airtel have elevated their tariffs but once more after the final elections, Indians on the financial margins are in search of a less expensive different to those non-public gamers. Nevertheless, BSNL, which has been making an attempt to determine its 4G community for greater than two years, has nonetheless not positioned a viable different earlier than them.