Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks


Government-owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is working to set up its own 4G infrastructure and network in India. The telco is already eight years late in introducing its 4G services and that has been a huge problem for it lately. Most of the customers using BSNL prepaid SIMs still have to go with 3G plans. It hasn’t been an easy road for BSNL when looking for expanding its 4G services. Niti Aayog recently raised its concern related to the 4G tender from BSNL. The issue with BSNL’s tender was that it was overlooking Indian companies and manufacturers and giving the opportunity to Chinese foreign companies. But you know what the good thing is, you can still use BSNL’s 3G plan in locations where 4G is available.
Use 3G Plans and Get 4G Benefits
One advantage that BSNL users can get by recharging with 3G prepaid plans is that they can get 4G speeds as well. How does that happen? If you have a 3G prepaid plan from BSNL active on your device and you are in a zone which has 4G network of BSNL, then you will be getting 4G network speeds.
However, you won’t get many areas where BSNL has 4G network services. So only a few lucky users who live in the areas where BSNL provides 4G services or are near it will be able to enjoy the benefit. You can recharge with any of the 3G data prepaid plans to get the benefit. Any prepaid plan which doesn’t include data benefits from BSNL won’t be of any use.