BSNL pan-India 4G launch pushed to Dec, employees’ union seeks Vi network usage
₹15,000 crore for installing 4G sites across the country by BSNL in May last year. The consortium includes telecom gear maker Tejas Networks, which was majority acquired by the Tata Group in 2021 and government-backed C-DoT, which will provide the required radio sites, equipment and technology for the large scale 4G deployments. “We learn that the 4G equipment of the TCS have not completed the field trials till today.
Our genuine apprehension is that the commissioning of BSNL’s 4G network by TCS may get even more delayed," the union said in its letter. The lack of 4G services across all parts of the country was driving customers to port out of BSNL, which has further hurt the financial revival of the country’s fourth-largest telecom service provider. BSNL intends to put up 100,000 4G sites throughout India.
It has already set up 4G infrastructure in about 200 sites in Punjab and conducted trials of the locally-developed telecom technology stack. Vaishnaw recently said that BSNL will start 4G and 5G services in 2024, as part of the ₹1.64 trillion revival package which was approved by the government in July 2022. It included infusing fresh capital for upgrading BSNL services, allocating 4G spectrum by equity infusion of ₹44,993 crore, de-stressing its balance sheet, and augmenting the fibre network by merging Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with BSNL.
The plan also included financial support by equity infusion of ₹22,471 crore for capex and viability gap funding claim of ₹13,789 crore. A sovereign guarantee to BSNL to raise long-term bonds for an amount of ₹22,828 crore for debt restructuring was also part of the package. In this year’s interim budget, the government has earmarked ₹52,937 crore for capital infusion
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