Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run Indian telecom operator, was advised by a parliamentary panel on Wednesday that it should seek help from foreign vendors. This should be done as until the indigenous technology matures, at least BSNL will have some standing in the market. This recommendation from the parliamentary panel comes as BSNL has installed 62000+ 4G sites across India. The state-run telecom in its submission said that one of the major hurdles that it has faced while deploying 4G is that the technology is taking time to be tested and proven.
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Globally, only four countries are there which have their own technology stack for rolling out mobile networks. India wants to be one of them, but the responsibility to carry that out has been put upon BSNL. The state-run telco has been asked to only use indigenous tech for rolling out 4G. The tech is being provided by a TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) led consortium which includes Tejas Networks and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT).
According to a PTI report, the parliamentary panel has advised BSNL to take a multi-pronged approach wherein it will continue to aid in the development and deployment of indigenous 4G stack in India, but also take help from foreign players and tech experts in the development and testing of the solutions.
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For temporary integration, BSNL has been advised to take help from foriegn vendors. It is worth noting that BSNL has received multiple relief packages over the last few years. However, under the relief packages, the telco has been provided with assets, not cash. The overall packages worth Rs 2 lakh crore only include Rs 21,000 crore in cash. The remaining value has been provided in the form of assets, which includes spectrum.
