Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run Indian telecom operator, has installed 62,201 4G towers in India. This was recently confirmed by the union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. He said that these towers have been installed. However, it is to be noted that not all the towers may have been commissioned, meaning, active. The telco remains on track to achieve its goal of deploying 1 lakh 4G towers in the country. At this pace, he said that the goal of 1 lakh towers will be completed before June 2025.
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BSNL has been trying to connect rural India with 4G leveraging the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). The telco has also announced that the core it is using is already 5G ready. BSNL's technology is being supplied by a TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) led consortium including Tejas Networks and C-DoT (Centre for Development of Telematics).
Much recently, during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2024, BSNL showcased some of the new services it has launched including Live TV, D2D, and more. The state-run telco will become the first Indian telecom operator to have a PAN-India indigenous 4G network. In 2025, BSNL will likely achieve its goal of 1 lakh 4G sites, and the work will likely not stop there.
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1 lakh towers is just a milestone, the work would need to continue to expand coverage and improve the network experience for the customers. In a rebranding jig, BSNL recently unveiled a new logo along with 7 new services. The new services showcased at the IMC 2024 are a part of the seven new services which BSNL announced with the new logo. BSNL is taking the help of US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to streamline operations and achieve a path of profitabililty.
