Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has started its 4G deployment and will have completed a significant part of the rollout by Diwali 2024, said telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. According to a report from the Indian Express, Vaishnaw said that BSNL is being revived in a "very systematic and methodical way". The technology stack that BSNL is using for 4G will be upgradable to 5G as well. Vaishaw believes that telecom in India is a sunrise sector and remarked on the new technology and investments that are coming.
He also talked about the telecom operators investing about Rs 2 lakh crore for rolling out 5G in the country. Vaishnaw highlighted the fact that India has become one of the few countries globally that has indigenously developed 4G and 5G tech. Many countries including the US, Australia, and Europe have expressed their interest in the telecom technology that India has developed.
The govt expects BSNL to turn profitable with the relief packages and the arrival of 4G by 2027. As per the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) report, the state-run telecom operator's subscriber market share at the end of October was 8.08%. The company wants to take it to 20% by 2025 with the help of 4G and 5G rollouts.
Without high-speed networks, BSNL has continuously been losing market share to private companies. BSNL users in most parts of India still have to make use of the 2G and 3G networks. The govt has already reserved 4G and 5G spectrum for BSNL as part of the relief packages. Once the infrastructure is ready, BSNL can proceed with rolling out 4G and then later upgrade it to 5G NSA (non-standalone architecture). TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) is deploying 4G for BSNL and will also maintain the networks for the next nine years.
