BSNL To Launch 4G Services Soon, Rs. 12,000 Crore Investment In Offing: Report

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to launch its 4G services in the next six months, reports Economic Times. According to the report, the company is looking at locations where it can deploy its 4G services first.

"It will take six months to launch services. We are looking at upgrading the existing equipment, and identifying the locations to make services available soonest. Secondly, we are also going for a tendering process, but it would take a longer time," BSNL chairman Pravin Kumar Purwar was quoted by ET.

" The 4G spend is expected to come to around Rs 12,000 crore over 24 months," the company added. Besides, BSNL seems satisfied with the relief package provided by the government to make its operations profitable, and it can compete with private players like Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. The report also states that 36,000 employees have already applied for voluntary retirement schemes (VRS).

And now, BSNL is expecting a surge in number to somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 individuals. In fact, the telecom operator is hopeful that 3,000 group- A officers will also opt for this scheme.

However, Purwar intimated that there are some challenges, but ones the revival is implemented, it will meet the expenses."There are a few challenges. We expect once the revival package started to be implemented, will have a reasonable amount of cash to meet our expenses. BSNL was not able to make timely payment and it's only a thing of delayed payment. We expected in the next 2-3 months, things will start moving," Purwar informed ET.

Last month, the government approved Rs. 69,000 crore revival package for both MTNL and the BSNL. It includes merging both loss-making operators, VRS, and monetizing their assets.