The Minister of State (MoS) for Communications Devusinh Chauhan in a statement said that the government-owned telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) are all set to launch their 4G network by the end of this year. The minister informed that BSNL and MTNL set up their in-house developed 4G equipment as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative in order to propel their 4G mobile networks.
4G Network Rollout Strategy
Devusinh Chauhan said the government has already begun taking action on multiple proposals within BSNL and MTNL. He further informed that for the very first time since the revival package was approved in October 2019, the two telecom operators have witnessed operating profit. He said that BSNL will very soon launch its 4G services in the Gujarat license service area (LSA). Recent reports suggest that BSNL is planning to commence its 4G network trials in four cities in Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Kannur by the end of August 2022. The minister made these comments while speaking at a meeting with the senior officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in Gujarat and said that the telecom department has handpicked 60 villages from a security perspective for installing 50 towers at a cost of Rs 41 crores in Gujarat which is a border state. Furthermore, 47 villages have already been covered and the rest are expected to receive connectivity by June 2022. The minister informed that there are 317 villages in the state which still do not have the connectivity and are a part of the government’s all-encompassing plan to connect over 6 lakh villages in the country with high-speed fibre broadband and mobile services. He stated that the government has already provided fibre connectivity to all 14,622-gram panchayats (GPs) in Gujarat and 4,400 villages are yet to receive fibre connectivity. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s telecom minister recently stated that BSNL is in the final stage of commercial talks with TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) for deploying 6000 4G sites. BSNL partnered with TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Tejas Networks, and C-DoT (Centre for Development of Telematics) to test homegrown 4G technology. This trial process was successfully completed by the month of March. BSNL will deploy 4G in 1,00,000 sites across the country.
