NEW DELHI: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Board recommended Tejas Network to deploy 1 lakh network sites to launch 4G services in the country. The telco will send its recommendation (purchase order) to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) for approval, and then in return DoT will send it to the Group of Ministers (GoM) to seek clearance.
The telco chose Tejas Network, a part of Tata Group, as a vendor to supply 4G equipment for 1 lakh sites. It would cost a sum of `24,556.37 crore that includes network gear cost of about Rs 13,000 crore, as well as third-party items and a 10-year annual maintenance contract (AMC).
This development is good for the telco as it will speed up its 4G rollout, which has been delayed for years. While private telcos are updating their network to 5G, BSNL is still using 2G and 3G networks. Other than Tejas Network, HFCL (partners Pertsol and Mavenir), L&T (partners Pertsol and Mavenir), Tech Mahindra (partners Pertsol and Sterlite) have shown interest in the contract.
However, these firms have failed to submit proof of concept (PoC). In the Budget 2023-24, the Centre allocated `52,937 crore to BSNL, which includes installation of new towers and technology upgrade to 4G and 5G. In July 2022, Cabinet cleared a Rs 1.64 lakh crore package for BSNL and MTNL following Rs 69,000 crore rescue plan in 2019.
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