Farooq Tantary CNI

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will soon roll out an additional 23,000 fourth-generation or 4G sites, and upgrade the network to next-generation (5G) technology that includes using a revenue-share model to catch up with the private sector players.”For 5G, there are a couple of variations that we are working on, including 5G-as-a-service. Firstly, some private players can install 5G equipment and BSNL can work with them on a revenue-sharing basis. Second is upgrading the existing 4G to 5G,” Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told ET Telecom.”We are working on some pilot programs to see, and that is one quick way of getting there,” Pemmasani added.Further, the minister said that once BSNL has a good 4G coverage, the telco would upgrade sites to 5G. “First, we have to get these additional 23,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) installed. We have close to 97,000 4G sites operational. Most of the quality issues have already been fixed.”The public sector telecom service provider, together with the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium, deployed 4G sites across four operating zones, with a switching option to next generation or 5G technology.”We have no technical glitches whatsoever that we had in the earlier versions. So, because it’s an indigenous technology, it is in the process of development. There were a few quality issues in the beginning, which we have now fixed.”In May this year, homegrown Tejas Networks, a part of the Tata group of companies, received an advance purchase order (APO) for an additional 18,685 sites. However, BSNL is yet to award a final purchase order (PO) to the domestic consortium.On asking about the muted response to a follow-on order, Pemmasani said that the telco “wanted to make sure that whatever it needed must also be included in the new contract”.Based on indigenous technology in line with the Centre’s Atmanirbhar Bharat ambition, NG Subramaniam-headed Tejas Networks, together with state-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), installed and commissioned BSNL’s network for commercial 4G debut, to potentially increase its revenue by at least 15-20% on the back of high-speed data services.The Union minister also said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is fully committed and wants BSNL to survive and make progress.In 2023, BSNL issued a purchase order (PO) to Tata Consultancy Services for deploying as many as 1 lakh 4G network sites. Of the total sites, 20% were reserved for state-led ITI Limited in the west zone.The development closely followed the Union Cabinet approving the third revival package for the public sector telecom company worth ₹89,047 crores that included the allotment of 4G/5G spectrum through equity infusion.The spectrum allotment was aimed to facilitate BSNL’s pan-India 4G and 5G foray, providing coverage in rural and uncovered villages under various connectivity programs, fixed wireless access (FWA) service, and captive non-public network (CNPN) to enterprise customers.Following a large-scale deployment with the state-run telco, several countries, including the United States, have expressed interest in using India technology stack to cut dependence on the Chinese supply chain.However, the telecom PSU has been deploying its 4G network at a time when private telecom players, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, are aggressively working on monetising their 5G services.Earlier, BSNL’s 4G commercial network witnessed delays owing to multiple reasons. In 2020, it had to cancel the initial request for proposals (RFP) due to restrictive conditions for domestic technology players.