BSNL Floats Tender for 5G Rollout Across 1,876 Sites in Delhi: Report

BSNL Floats Tender for 5G Rollout Across 1,876 Sites in Delhi: Report
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has reportedly issued a tender, inviting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to deploy indigenous 5G commercial services across 1,876 sites in the Delhi circle. The Delhi circle will have a primary 5G-as-a-Service Provider (5GaaSP), and a secondary 5GaaSP, as per the tender, according to an ET report.

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Also Read: BSNL to Transition to 5G Network by June 2025, Says Telecom Minister: Report

BSNL 5G Network Capabilities

BSNL plans to launch its 5G services using the 900 MHz low-band for coverage and the 3.5 GHz mid-band for capacity. The public sector telco aims to deliver enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), voice, video, data, SMS, ultra-reliable low-latency communications (uRLLC), massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) services, and network slicing through its 5G network.

Revenue-Share Model

“BSNL intends to deploy 5G services on “Network as a service” model on a revenue share basis in Delhi LSA with CAPEX and OPEX on the part of the selected bidder,” BSNL reportedly said in the tender. Bidder refers to the “5G as a Service Provider (5GaaSP)”.

“The primary 5GaaSP shall deploy one 5G SA core and 5G-RAN from, up to two OEMs. The secondary 5GaaSP shall deploy up to two OEMs of 5G-RAN,” it reportedly said.

Technical Specifications

Per the technical specifications, the 5G Core network must initially support 1 Lakh registered subscribers, with infrastructure—including the Core and Radio Access Network (RAN)—compliant with 3GPP Release 15 and above and aligned with Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) standards.

“The bidder shall plan, design, supply/deploy equipment and manage operation of the 5G network in the assigned territory of the LSA,” BSNL has reportedly said in the tender, adding that the bidder should meet deployment timelines, minimum roll out requirement, and consistently meet the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) performance benchmarks while operating the network.