BSNL expects to cover all telecom circles in India with its 4G services by the end of March 2024
Indian state-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has already launched 4G services in a few locations across India and expects to expand its 4G footprint in the coming months, local press reported.
The telco expects to cover all telecom circles in India with its 4G services by the end of the upcoming financial year, which ends in March 2024, according to the report.
BSNL is planning to test 200 sites in the upcoming four months and by the end of September, a total of 300 sites are expected to be installed across India. “We will test the technology at 200 sites for four months, and after September, 300 towers will be installed across the country on a daily basis,” said the country’s Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Currently, BSNL 4G is available in Maharashtra, North East, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, UP (East), UP (West), Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chennai Telecom District, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata Telecom District, and Madhya Pradesh.
The telecom operator is providing 4G services via spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band.
According to previous reports, the government is expected to approve a tender for 100,000 4G sites for BSNL’s 4G deployment by the end of March. These sites are expected to be provided by a consortium led by local firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
In January, Vaishnaw had said that BSNL could launch 5G technology in March 2024. Vaishnaw also clarified that initially, BSNL’s 5G network will be based on the NonStandalone (NSA) architecture.
In December 2022, BSNL asked the Indian government for more spectrum for the future deployment of 5G technology.
BSNL is likely to launch 5G services in 600 MHz, 3.3 GHz, and 26 GHz bands, according to previous reports. These spectrum bands have been reserved by the Department of Telecommunication and after the 4G launch, all sites will be upgraded to 5G.
