Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been criticised heavily by the Indian taxpayers for getting a relief package from their money when it hasn’t even launched 4G while the private telcos are shifting to 5G. The stance of the Indian government is pretty clear here. The centre wants homegrown technology to be involved in the rollout of BSNL’s 4G. The capex spending needs of BSNL’s 4G have also been looked after in the relief package. The issue is, for all the help that BSNL has received, there’s nothing to show for it. In simple words, despite signalling for a soft launch of 4G networks using homegrown technology on August 15, 2022, BSNL hasn’t fulfilled its promise, and we are in the first week of September. Now, there’s a report from The New Indian Express which suggests that BSNL will likely start its 4G services next year. This could be a huge shocker to everyone hoping to see the performance of BSNL’s 4G networks. According to the report, a senior DoT (Department of Telecommunications) official has said that because of a delay in procuring equipment, BSNL wouldn’t be able to launch 4G this year.
BSNL Only Allowed to Take Equipment from Local Firms
BSNL is only allowed to take the equipment from local firms. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) is BSNL’s partner for supplying radios. The private telecom operators are looking to launch 5G services by October 2022. Meanwhile, BSNL is yet to even launch 4G services in the country. The state-run telecom operator has been running on losses for several years and has been provided with a relief package multiple times in the last five years. This is certainly going to irk the BSNL fans who were looking forward to the 4G network launch of BSNL using homegrown technology. BSNL has been advised by the government to work strictly towards offering better services to consumers after the relief package. But the consumers aren’t going to be excited if the state-run telco doesn’t even launch 4G.
