Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is too late to launch 4G networks
in India. All the private telcos have already done that. While Jio,
Airtel, and Vodafone Idea are planning to launch commercial 5G services
in several parts of India in the coming months, we still haven't seen
BSNL's 4G launch using local technology. The 4G launch of BSNL has
reportedly been delayed until 2023 now. The big question is if there are
further delays in launching 4G, will there be delays in launching 5G as well?
BSNL 5G Launch is Expected to be Delayed
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is not going to be able to launch
5G in a timely manner if things continue like this. While there aren't a
lot of use cases of 5G for consumers right now, in the coming years, 5G
adoption will pick pace. BSNL should have launched 4G by now to target launching 5G NSA as fast as possible.
But that seems a little unlikely right now. One trend that has
plagued BSNL is delaying things. It is unclear whether it is solely the
fault of the government, the telco, or both in the undoing of business.
Regardless, an urgency to launch 4G network services in as many parts of
India as possible needs to come inside BSNL and the government.
If that doesn't happen, BSNL's future is going to be the same as its
present. It will keep running on revival packages and keep incurring
losses year after year. The need for digital services is growing in
every part of India. This is something that BSNL needs to learn to take
advantage of, especially in the rural areas where telcos aren't
investing heavily.
BSNL has many services to offer customers both in the retail as well
as enterprise segment. But the telco needs to become ruthless and work
hard to ensure that it is eating up as many customers as possible of the
private telcos.