The state-owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has been keen on the task of launching 5G before other telecom companies in India. The government is also of the thought that India should not lag behind in the adoption of 5G technology as it should launch in India in sync with other countries. Anil Jain, Chief General Manager of BSNL also made some statements regarding the launch of 5G technology at the hands of BSNL. The CGM also said that there is not a pinpoint date decided about when 5G will launch in the country. He also added that the rollout might even happen before the selected time. Jain told PTI, “we can’t give any timeline. Though, the world over people are talking to launch 5G by June 2020. But, there are some expectations that we may see 5G (launch) in 2019 itself.”
The executive also showed a tone of remorse over the delay of launch in 4G. He said that “BSNL doesn’t want to miss the 5G bus”, showing his concern about the launch of 5G in the country at the latest.
Jain also highlighted that recommendations were taken for 5G and extensive tests were also conducted in the country. He remarked, “to do the learning and testing on the ground and making our system compatible with 5G, BSNL has signed an agreement with several international operators including Nokia, NTT Advance Technology.” He further added “World over the same thing is happening. In Germany, China, U.S. and India lot of tests have been conducted.”
BSNL’s new project called Wings, which will allow users in rural and backward areas to use internet telephony to place calls is also in the pipeline. The service will go live on 1st August. Talking about Wings, Jain further said: “through this, the target is to have 50 lakh new customers by the end of this fiscal.”
Lastly, the official spoke, “With these new offers we are hopeful to add 15 lakh new customers for landline and broadband connections against the current customer base of 60 lakh while we are expecting to add 30 lakh more for fibre broadband from the existing 2.3 lakh fibre connections pan-India by March 2019.”
BSNL is also launching new broadband plans to take on the Jio GigaFiber service which will be open to public next month.
