Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will soon have 4G services, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said during the Rajya Sabha’s Question Hour. As BSNL struggling to compete against private players in India for the last few years.
As a result of facing monetary and subscriber-base losses, the government decide to merge BSNL with Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL).
During the Question Hour, Devusinh Chauhan also said that 5G services in India will begin by the end of this year.
Devusinh Chauhan Said :
“The 4G service on BSNL will start very soon, almost by the end of this year,”
Devusinh Chauhan did not given any clear timeline.
Minister also said that the government is working towards improving the network service of the telco.
BSNL does not have 4G connectivity on a pan-India basis.
BSNL in 2019 expect to complete its 4G rollout in 2020.
It was also plann to float a tender for 50,000 4G sites in late 2019.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) cancelled the 4G tender for BSNL in 2020.
It also reportedly plan to exclude Chinese companies from the 4G tender for the operator.
Devusinh Chauhan had said in a previous Question Hour in February that BSNL was able to compete with private telecom service providers and had a share of 10.15% of all telephone subscribers in the country.
Devusinh Chauhan also said that the loss of the operator decline to Rs. 7,441 crore in 2020–21, from Rs. 15,500 crore in 2019–20.
According to the recent data share by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), BSNL has more than 11.43 crore wireless subscribers in the country, with over 11.75 lakh adds in December.
Devusinh Chauhan said that the government was set to start 5G services in the country by the end of this year.
Devusinh Chauhan said that the country already has 98% of mobile connectivity coverage.
Operators including Airtel, Jio, and Vi (Vodafone Idea) are conducting 5G trials in the country and working with telecom gear manufacturers to kick off their services for the next-generation cellular technology.
The initial roll out of 5G services in the country is expect to be limited to metro and big cities, and other areas would get the coverage sometime next year.
