BSNL Should Take Help of Foreign Technology for its 4G Network, Advises Parliamentary Panel

There are only four countries in the world that have their own technology stack to launch mobile networks. The central government wants to include India in the list of these countries. The parliamentary panel has advised BSNL to expand the scope of technology regarding 4G network. This panel says that the company should take help of foreign companies having expertise in using indigenous 4G stack as well as testing related solutions. The technology for this network is being provided to BSNL by a consortium led by Tata Group’s software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Last week, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that the financial recovery of the company is going on. BSNL plans to launch 5G service in the middle of next year. Scindia had said that the functioning of BSNL is getting stronger. It is very important for a country like India to have three-four telecom companies. He had told, “In the last three-four years, the revenue of BSNL has increased by 12 percent. During this period, the expenditure of the company has decreased by two percent. For the last three years, the company has been in positive in terms of EBITDA. The operating profit of BSNL has increased to approximately It has become Rs 2,300 crore.” The company plans to install one lakh towers by June next year. Scindia had said, “We have built our 4G core through government company C-DOT and Radio Access Network (RAN) through Tata Group’s Tejas. TCS is the system integrator for this. This is a completely integrated Bharat solution. We have built almost 62,000 towers have been installed. India is the fifth country in the world to have its own 4G hardware and stack.

With the installation of one lakh towers by the middle of next year, BSNL plans to shift some of these towers to 5G technology. Recently BSNL had presented a new challenge for private telecom companies. The company has made available a plan with 1,300 GB data per month for Rs 333.