BSNL To Upgrade 15,000 Towers In Kerala; Might Offer 4G Services Soon

Even though it has a huge user base in Kerala, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) users have been missing on 4G, but finally, the telecom operator is expected to launch its services in the circle. The company is planning to upgrade 15,000 towers in Southern India so that it can offer 4G services in the same circle.

BSNL 4G In Kerala

In fact, out of these 15,000 towers close to 80 percent of towers are Kerala. The towers, which have Nokia's Base Transceiver Station will now get an additional system to transfer the 4G network, reports Mathrubhumi.

The report said that the management of the telecom operator has approved the project. It is worth noting that the Department of Telecommunication has announced the revival package for the state-run telecom operator, where the 4G spectrum has been given under the same package.

BSNL 4G Network Trial

Meanwhile, Financial Express reported that Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, HFCL, and L&T are reportedly selected the BSNL to start or conduct the trials on the local equipment. These firms will be given four months to test the networks. After that, successful trials all eligible bidders for rolling out the services.

However, companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and Huawei are not participating in the trials. The report said that the 4G trials will be done in five locations. TCS and partnered with C-DoT for core network will conduct trials in Chandigarh.

Similarly, Tech Mahindra will conduct trials in Pune, while HFCL test with Pertsol and Mavenir in Chennai and Banglore. Notably, the company is planning to upgrade towers with domestic and foreign players. The company has also issued a tender and soon it will finalize the vendors.

The state-run telecom operator BSNL is likely to complete 4G trials in the next 10 months and might launch services in 14 months. However, one should not forget that other telecom operators are conducting 5G trials in the country, which means BSNL will take a long to launch 5G services and there are high chances that it might skip the 5G services as it requires a lot of investment.