DoT Might Soon Take Call On BSNL 4G Launch: Report

The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to take a call on the commercial launch of the BSNL 4G network as employees are blaming the government for the delay. However, the exact timeline has not been decided to roll out the of the 4G services, but the government is expected to take a decision soon.

"We can't commit any timeline for the 4G launch. It is for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to take a final call in this matter," a senior official said, reports ET. He also said that the telecom operator has already submitted its response to the ministry; however, it still requires suggestions from the empowered technology group (ETG).

This report comes at that time when employees of the company are planning to go on strike from November 26th, 2020 as the government is not serious about the BSNL package and they believe that they have the potential to give a tough fight to Reliance Jio.

"We have been asking for the speedy launch of 4G services and by suggesting newer strategies such as a system integrator-led model would only further delay the commercial services launch by BSNL besides escalating the deployment cost," P Abhimanyu, General Secretary, BSNL Employee Union (BSNLEU) said.

Notably, Reliance Jio launched its services in 2016 with cheap data and prepaid plans. The operator has become the number one telecom operator and disrupted the whole sector. Apart from that, the state-run telecom operator BSNL is reportedly planning to offer 4G services in Mumbai and Delhi as the spectrum license of MTNL is going to end in January 2021.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to merge both MTNL and BSNL operations as both are struggling to clear their dues and offer proper services to customers. The debt liability of MTNL was calculated at Rs. 20,000 crore during the 2018-19 financial year.