Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run telecom operator, has deployed 1111 base transceiver stations (BTS) in Bihar under the 4G saturation project. This project is taking up some pace, as the telecom operator also recently announced that it has achieved the milestone of 5000 BTS under the 4G saturation project throughout India. So now, it is interesting to note that out of the 5000, more than 1000 have been deployed in Bihar only under the project.
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The aim of this project is to ensure that high-speed internet connectivity reaches everyone. BSNL is the only telecom operator that is deploying 4G using homegrown gear. This homegrown gear is provided by TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) led consortium which also includes Tejas Networks, C-DoT (Centre for Development of Telematics), and ITI Limited.
BSNL has achieved the 1111 4G BTS milestone as of the end of October 31, 2024. BSNL recently also announced that it has installed over 50,000 4G sites in the country, half of its target of 1 lakh sites. Out of these 50,000 sites, around 41,000 sites are commissioned and active. BSNL has confirmed that these sites are present in both urban and rural areas of the country.
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With BSNL, users get the cheapest 4G plans, however, the coverage gap still needs to be covered. BSNL will take around nine more months to reach its target of commissioning 1 lakh sites. After that, users will see significant improvement in mobile speeds wherever they are in India. However, as per the industry experts, BSNL will require to deploy more sites after reaching the milestone of 1 lakh sites to be able to compete with the private telecom operators. 2025 will be a crucial year to see how BSNL's performance changes after the rollout of its 4G services.