Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has not yet received 4G spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The telecom department had reserved a certain quantum of spectrum for BSNL/MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) for offering 4G services in India. DoT said that BSNL/MTNL would receive the 4G airwaves “after completion of necessary formalities in accordance with the Cabinet approval in this regard”. Further, DoT said that assignment/re-assignment of the spectrum in the 900/1800 MHz band is under consideration in the department. DoT has released the report on access spectrum holdings of TSPs as of July 8, 2022.
BSNL to Start 4G Services on August 15, 2022
Many officials of the company have said that BSNL will do a soft launch of 4G network services on August 15, 2022. But how will this be possible with the 4G spectrum is something to wonder. Maybe the telco has enough airwaves, for now, to offer 4G at a small scale in certain parts of India. But then BSNL wants to expand with 4G by the end of this year. This wouldn’t be possible, however, if the telco doesn’t get 4G airwaves. Further, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is still working on finetuning the technical parameters of BSNL’s 4G. The deadline for this is July 30, 2022. Things don’t really look like they are happening in a timely manner. However, we are still more than a month away from BSNL’s homegrown 4G launch. The state-run telco is already offering 4G services in select parts of the country. Kerala is expected to receive 4G networks of BSNL by the end of this year, as well as Pune. BSNL can’t delay its 4G plans further. There were also talks about the cost issues that BSNL and TCS are going through. BSNL is offering TCS a negligible amount for upgrading 6000 sites to 4G, which the Tata Group company is not happy about.
