BSNL is planning to launch 4G services in all the 22 circles in the country, and has sent a Detailed Project Report to the Department of Telecom regarding the same. The country’s fifth-largest telecom operator has consistently been improving its financial and operational metrics, and to continue the momentum, it plans to launch 4G services, sources said. It already has 20 MHz spectrum in 2,500-MHz band in 14 circles, besides MHz in 2100MHz band in 22 circles. “BSNL has submitted a DPR to DOT for acquiring another 5 MHz in the 2100 MHz band in 22 circles. The cost for this is around Rs.9,600-10,000 crore, for which 50% will be through more equity for the government in BSNL while the rest will paid in annual installments,” soures said. The operators plans to launch 4G services first in its profit-making circles-Kerala and Odisha-in January 2018. However, to launch pan-India 4G services, BSNL requires additional spectrum in the 2100 MHz band.
BSNL is aiming to expand the 4G service to rest of the country in the fourth coming days, But in order to do so, The Telco believes that they required additional spectrum. For the same, BSNL is seeking another file MHz spectrum in 2100MHz band, which the telco wants to fund by offering additional equity to its promoter, the government.
Telecom minister Manoj Sinha on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that the Telecom Commission is looking at how to make BSNL competitive and allot it 4G spectrum. He said to allot spectrum to BSNL, directions given by the Supreme Court also have to be followed. Sinha informed the Upper House that the government is focusing on improving mobile internet connectivity in rural areas and increasing the number of BSNL towers in Kerala. To further improve BSNL’s condition, The cabinet in September approved hiving off its Telecom computers into a whole the owned subsidiary to enable the operator sell or lease more than 66,000 towers, there by unlocking value from assets. In the past few months, BSNL consistently worked on improving its performance by launching a slew of attractive voice and data plans across segments, which have helped the operator increase its market share and the subscriber base. BSNL had 101.8 million subscribers in April 2017 and a market share of 8.67%.