Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is going to launch 4G network services soon. The wait is just for an official commercial agreement and terms to be formed between BSNL and TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). Once 4G is launched, BSNL is looking to upgrade over 100,000 sites across the nation. But BSNL won’t just tap into urban India but also focus on the rural market. BSNL would be targeting around 24,680 uncovered villages in the nations to launch its 4G. This would mean a great deal to the people living in these villages. The statement from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) surfacing on a PTI report suggests that BSNL would be able to cover all these 24,680 villages in India by the end of December 2023. According to DoT, 2,343 mobile towers have already been installed in such areas in states such as Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal under Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-1 scheme. Apart from this, 2,542 more mobile towers are being installed under the LWE-2 scheme. If BSNL could bring 4G network connectivity to all these villages, it would be a great thing for the Indian economy as well. It would present opportunities for the people living in backward areas of the country to be able to participate in the digital revolution the way others in urban cities are doing. But everything would depend on how fast BSNL and TCS can form an agreement. TCS would have to look after BSNL’s network for the next nine years for maintenance purposes.
