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Although BSNL plans to roll out 5G services by August 2023, it is working on the government’s 4G saturation initiative. The 4G saturation initiative will provide high-speed broadband connections to 24,680 unconnected, remote and difficult villages or areas in the coming years. In addition, villages using 2G or 3G will get 4G network under this project. This project has been implemented by BSNL and has already approved contacts for passive infrastructure; however, it is still being completed for active infrastructure.
This initiative is expected to provide mobile connectivity in rural areas. This initiative will promote banking services, tele-education, telemedicine, e-government services and more through mobile broadband access. In addition, it will create new jobs in the areas.
It is worth noting that BSNL is also planning to lay optical fiber in rural areas under the Bharat Net programme. Under this programme, BSNL has covered 1.9 million villages and plans to reach 2.2 million villages by 2023.
For those who are not aware, the government has also awarded a project worth Rs 3,683 crore to Reliance Jio and Airtel to launch or provide 4G services to exposed villages in India. The project will see Airtel install 1,083 towers in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, while Reliance Jio will install 3,696 towers. Airtel will install towers worth Rs 847.95 crore, while Reliance Jio’s towers are close to Rs 2,800 crore according to a PTI report.
Why is 4G rollout important for BSNL?
Even after 22 years in the Indian telecom industry, BSNL’s future depends only on the 4G network, despite being the first operator to launch 3G services. However, several reports claim that the state-owned telecom operator will launch 4G services in January 2023 in phases.
The telecom operator has also approved the tender of Tata Consultancy Services, where the latter will help the operator launch services and will maintain all locations in the country.
In addition, the telecom operator is expected to launch 5G services in 2023; however, before that the introduction of 4G service is important as the company is expected to launch services based on non-standalone mode (NSA). The NSA is entirely based on the 4G network and is cheaper than the stand-alone mode, which was used by Reliance Jio.
BSNL 5G Plans
Apart from the 4G network, the state-owned telecom operator is gearing up to bring the 5G network to India next year. The company will upgrade 1.35 lakh 4G towers to offer 5G services and TCS will help them in the upgrade procedure. Besides, the government has agreed to allot 5G spectrum to the telecom operator, which also means there are high chances of BSNL bringing 5G services next year.
The state telecom operator works on two technologies simultaneously. But three private players have already established themselves in the 4G space and now two of them are launching 5G services in their circles. However, BSNL is known for its affordable plans, so it would be interesting to see how it manages to attract users to its much-awaited services.
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