BSNL’s ‘Indigenous’ 4G Network Launched, 5G Also in Preparation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) 4G network. The state-owned telecom company’s 4G network uses indigenous technology. BSNL has installed over 97,000 telecom towers for this purpose. With this, India joins the select group of countries that have developed their own telecom technology.

A statement issued by BSNL said, “The ‘Indigenous’ 4G network is a major transformational step in line with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Digital India. It will bridge the digital divide and empower rural communities. It will also pave the way for BSNL’s 5G network.” The company’s 4G network is designed to be cloud-based and can be upgraded to 5G. Prime Minister Modi also inaugurated over 97,500 telecom towers across the country. These have been built using entirely indigenous technology.

These towers will provide connectivity to over 26,000 remote and border villages across the country. The new telecom towers use solar power. Major private telecom companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have 5G networks in almost every part of the country, and BSNL has had difficulty competing with these companies. BSNL’s 5G service will be called Q-5G, with the Q standing for Quantum. BSNL has also introduced anti-smishing and anti-spam protection to protect users from SMS messages containing fraudulent links.

Recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced that BSNL plans to incur a capital expenditure of approximately ₹47,000 crore. Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has asked the company to increase its customer base and its mobile service business by 50 percent by next year. The state-owned telecom company lost 101,000 subscribers in July. Its subsidiary, MTNL, also saw a decline in subscribers. The two state-owned companies’ share of the mobile segment of the telecom market has fallen to less than eight percent.