NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to install 1.12 lakh mobile towers across India to roll out 4G services, informed the telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday in Lok Sabha. The minister also said this 4G telecom network, which is to be launched this year, will be fully indigenous.
“I am happy to inform you that the 4G telecom network is ready for roll out soon and it is developed in India by Indian engineers and scientists. Our development of 4G network is being appreciated worldwide and it has a core network, radio network with full telecom equipment,” said Vaishnaw.
The loss-making telco is in the process of ordering 6,000 towers immediately and then 6,000 more and finally 1 lakh to be installed all over the country for the 4G network. While all the other telecom operators are in the process of switching from 4G to 5G services, BSNL is still struggling to convert its network from 2G to 4G.
The state-owned telco’s bid to launch commercial next generation services hit multiple roadblocks since 2015. However, this year the government is confident that BSNL’s 4G networks will go live by 15 August 2022. P K Purwar, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of BSNL once mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants the state-run telecom operator to deploy 4G services by August 15.
In the 2022-23 budget, the government allocated Rs 44,270-crore into BSNL for expenses primarily technology upgradation. The minister of state for Communication Devyusingh Chouhan, in a written reply to parliament in December 2021, said that BSNL had given September 2022 as the deadline for Pan-India rollout of its 4G services.