New Delhi: State-owned BSNL is targeting to commercially launch 4G services in April, and has started getting supply of indigenous equipment from the TCS-led consortium. The supply of equipment is part of the pre-order for 200 sites to initially launch 4G in parts of three districts of Punjab – Ferozepur, Pathankot and Amritsar.
The development comes after communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said last week that BSNL has deployed the first indigenous wireless base station to launch 4G.
While the government is expected to approve the complete tender to TCS for equipment for 100,000 4G sites by the end of March 2023, this installation is part of the pilot project to launch 4G starting from Punjab. As per sources, TCS, through Tejas Networks, has supplied equipment for about 50 sites for which the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) may deploy a software patch upgrade.
Earlier in February 2023, the BSNL Board recommended the deployment of 100,000 network sites by the TCS-led consortium for its 4G commercial service. The department was expected to seek clearance from the Group of Ministers (GoM) likely by early March 2023 to further issue a purchase order (PO). State-run telco expects a 20 per cent increase in revenue after a full-fledged commercial launch of next-generation 4G services in 2023-24.
