Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-owned telecommunications company, offers 2G, 3G and 4G Services. However, only a few know that BSNL has soft-launched BSNL 4G Services in a few locations a few years back. BSNL is in the final stages of its 4G Tender for 1 Lakh towers across the country. In this story, let's now check the states in which BSNL 4G services are already available.
Also Read: BSNL 4G Tender for 1 Lakh Sites in Final Stage: Vaishnaw
BSNL 4G SIM
To avail BSNL 4G Services, users should have a 4G SIM, the 3G SIM of BSNL will not work for 4G. So, BSNL prepaid or postpaid users should switch to a BSNL 4G SIM to enjoy BSNL 4G services.
BSNL 4G Spectrum
BSNL is delivering its 4G Services using its 2100 MHz mid-ban spectrum. So, most of the devices in the market support 4G on this band and with a 4G SIM, if your location is covered under BSNL 4G, you should be able to use BSNL 4G Services. In Areas where BSNL 4G is live, BSNL 3G is shutdown to reuse the spectrum for 4G services. Hence in such areas only 2G and 4G are available.
Furthermore, spectrum in 600 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz (mmWave) bands have been reserved for BSNL to provide 5G Services. So, once BSNL rolls out 4G Services, BSNL 5G Services would be provided to customers PAN India, as BSNL 4G services are upgradable to 5G.
Also Read: BSNL Reduces Data Benefit on Its Popular Night Unlimited Prepaid Plan
BSNL VoLTE
In some areas where 4G is already live, VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) services are also available. Although the list of BSNL 4G VoLTE compatible devices is limited, the VoLTE services are enabled, and certain users have reported enjoying BSNL 4G VoLTE Services.
In his written response to a Lok Sabha question, Shri Aswini Vaishnaw, Honourable Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, provided the details of where BSNL is providing 4G services on a limited scale.
State/Circle where BSNL is providing 4G Services on a limited scale:
| Sl. No. | Name of State/Circle where BSNL is providing 4G services on limited scale |
| 1 | Andaman & Nicobar |
| 2 | Andhra Pradesh |
| 3 | Assam |
| 4 | Bihar |
| 5 | Chennai Telecom District |
| 6 | Chhattisgarh |
| 7 | Gujarat |
| 8 | Haryana |
| 9 | Himachal Pradesh |
| 10 | Jammu & Kashmir |
| 11 | Jharkhand |
| 12 | Karnataka |
| 13 | Kerala |
| 14 | Kolkata Telecom District |
| 15 | Madhya Pradesh |
| 16 | Maharashtra |
| 17 | North East (NE1) |
| 18 | North East (NE2) |
| 19 | Odisha |
| 20 | Punjab |
| 21 | Tamil Nadu |
| 22 | Telangana |
| 23 | UP (East) |
| 24 | UP (West) |
| 25 | Uttaranchal |
| 26 | West Bengal (including Sikkim Circle) |
Please be noted that BSNL 4G services are only available in limited locations and hence do not expect wide coverage on the 4G network. BSNL 2G/3G Data packs can be used for 4G as well. Hence, if you are in a BSNL 4G Network Zone, BSNL has some amazing unlimited 2G/3G Data packs which will be of great use to use on 4G Network.
