BSNL’s homegrown 4G network economical, to discourage backdoors: Telecom secretary

 NEW DELHI: The indigenously-developed fourth generation or 4G technology to be deployed by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would be economical and overcome network security-related fears such as hidden backdoors in telecom equipment, a top official said.

“The 4G technology (developed indigenously) would work, and is very critical for India from a security and economic perspective, because you will get to make in India and also you will ensure that there are no hidden backdoors which can be exploited later on,” K. Rajaraman, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) told ETTelecom.

The locally-developed 4G technology could be a milestone for India as it may further seek to reduce dependency on multinationals such as Finnish Nokia and Swedish Ericsson dominating the Indian market while Chinese gear maker Huawei is accused of backdoors by the US and a few of its European allies.

Earlier, the UK-based Vodafone said that it had found vulnerabilities in equipment supplied by Shenzhen-based Huawei including hidden backdoors that could have provided unlawful access to the Chinese company.

In July last year, BSNL selected the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-driven consortium including the state-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) which has designed and developed core equipment indigenously.

The Mumbai-based TCS and C-DoT have deployed a trial network for BSNL at Ambala and Chandigarh with a 120-day deadline which was later extended up to December 31, and later to January 2022, and a further breather was given to the Tata-backed group to fully conform to network tests.

"I feel that maybe in April, it (PoC completion) may be announced. I have personally visited some of the sites. Performance is good. I think there are a few more tests which have to be completed while the most critical ones are all done," the official added.

Recently, the Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said that following the next generation network demonstration, the purchase order (PO) for 4G equipment would likely be placed by BSNL in April.

“In the last Cabinet meeting, in-principle approval was given to BSNL 5G. So it's only a matter of customer readiness, and if they are ready to switch on with the 4G PoC, the equipment is all 5G-enabled. With some tweaks, I think they will be able to move to 5G.

Earlier, the public sector research and development firm C-DoT said that the consortium has a seamless network scalability roadmap and would plan to upgrade the BSNL network to the fifth generation or 5G non-standalone (NSA) by end of 2022, and to 5G standalone (SA) by 2023.

The government, according to Rajaraman, has full confidence in BSNL which is evident from the fact that the Centre has already laid out Rs 44,000 crores on the table to support the state-owned telecom service provider.

In the Union Budget speech, last month, finance minister Nirmala Sithraman said that the government would infuse Rs 44,720-crore into state-controlled telecom operator to fund spectrum, technology up-gradation, and restructuring in FY 2023.

Rajaraman further said that Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited's (MTNL) merger with BSNL has already been put on hold following the deferment by the Group of Ministers (GoM).

Last year, the group headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh deferred the merger between BSNL and MTNL in the wake of huge debt on MTNL.

In January 2021, BSNL released a detailed notice inviting e-tender, for planning, testing, deployment, and annual maintenance of its much-awaited 4G network across four operational zones in addition to Delhi and Mumbai circles for 57,000 sites on a turnkey basis.