BSNL Might Start 4G Services In West And South Zones In Coming Months

BSNL is still struggling to provide 4G services, while private players are conducting 5G trials in the country. However, it seems that soon BSNL might start providing 4G services as the telecom operator asked the government for upgrading its 2G/3G equipment in the south and west zones.

This development comes at that time when the government already deferred the network upgrading request on July 23, 2021. Notably, the government nominee directors believe that this might increase security-related issues.

Nokia And ZTE Helped BSNL In Networks

Notably, both Nokia and ZTE helped BSNL in rolling out networks in the country. But now, the situation has been changed any Chinese vendor is not allowed to work with Indian telecom operators. Both Huawei and ZTE were unable to manage to get into the trusted partner list of the government.

However, it should be noted that BSNL cannot place this order as it has to follow all rules set by General Financial Rules, which has bar Chinese firms to participate in the deployment; however, Nokia order to upgrade the sites in the North and South zones is close to Rs. 567.35 crores.

BSNL CMD Letter To Telecom Secretary

In fact, BSNL CMD has also written a letter to the telecom secretary to guide Government directors so that they can give consent for the upgradation proposal.

"This is the most cost-effective way of 4G services expansion and will save hundreds of crores of capex. The entire exercise of upgradation can be completed within the shortest time-frame of 3-4 months without disturbance to the existing network and services," BSNL CMD PK Purwar was quoted by Financial Express.

The report said that the telecom operator has been mandated by the DoT to use domestic companies for the upgradation of the network or expanding 4G services. BSNL has also issued a tender to procure 50,000 sites with domestic companies. The letter of intent has been issued to Tech Mahindra, HFCL, ITI, TCS, and L&T. However, the trials of testing the domestic products are still in progress.

"The proposed upgradation is sporadic in nature and that too limited to south and west zones. South zone of BSNL alone is contributing about 40 percent to the revenue generated from mobile services," Purwar said. It is worth noting that BSNL is looking for ways to start 4G services and have been demanding a spectrum from the Government.