Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is too late to launch 4G networks in India. All the private telcos have already done that. While Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea are planning to launch commercial 5G services in several parts of India in the coming months, we still haven't seen BSNL's 4G launch using local technology. The 4G launch of BSNL has reportedly been delayed until 2023 now. The big question is if there are further delays in launching 4G, will there be delays in launching 5G as well?
BSNL 5G Launch is Expected to be Delayed
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is not going to be able to launch 5G in a timely manner if things continue like this. While there aren't a lot of use cases of 5G for consumers right now, in the coming years, 5G adoption will pick pace. BSNL should have launched 4G by now to target launching 5G NSA as fast as possible.
But that seems a little unlikely right now. One trend that has plagued BSNL is delaying things. It is unclear whether it is solely the fault of the government, the telco, or both in the undoing of business. Regardless, an urgency to launch 4G network services in as many parts of India as possible needs to come inside BSNL and the government.
If that doesn't happen, BSNL's future is going to be the same as its present. It will keep running on revival packages and keep incurring losses year after year. The need for digital services is growing in every part of India. This is something that BSNL needs to learn to take advantage of, especially in the rural areas where telcos aren't investing heavily.
BSNL has many services to offer customers both in the retail as well as enterprise segment. But the telco needs to become ruthless and work hard to ensure that it is eating up as many customers as possible of the private telcos.
