BSNL eyes 5G strategy to stack up against Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea

Time of India

3 days ago

NEW DELHI:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(
BSNL
) is adopting a 'multi-fold strategy' to launch commercial fifth generation or
5G
services concurrently with 4G network densification, carried out by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium with an additional 19,000 sites.
'BSNL has placed an order for an additional 19,000 sites to densify its 4G footprint, with seamless software upgrade capability to 5G. This follows the successful commissioning of around 90,000 4G sites,' A.
Robert Ravi
, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL told ETTelecom.
In May this year, Tata Consultancy Services received a Rs 2,903.22 crore order from BSNL for supplementary 18,685 4G network sites, involving planning, installation, and maintenance, to strengthen its rural and urban coverage.
'Our 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) model has already been awarded in Delhi, with similar pilots ongoing in Mumbai and other major metros,' Ravi said.
In addition to existing network upgradation to next generation (5G) technology, the 5G NaaS uses homegrown technology.
'We are also introducing India's first indigenous, SIM-less 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) service—Quantum 5G FWA—which aims to deliver high-speed broadband to targeted enterprises, remote and underserved regions.'
State-controlled telco's 5G rollout uses a Standalone (SA) core, supporting advanced features like network slicing for dedicated enterprise bandwidth, industrial IoT applications, and mission-critical services. The service, already demonstrated in Hyderabad, leverages both the 700 MHz and 3.3 GHz bands, ensuring deep rural penetration and urban capacity.
BSNL's private sector rivals, such as Mukesh Ambani-owned
Reliance Jio
and Sunil Mittal-driven
Bharti Airtel
kicked off commercial 5G networks in October 2022, while third-largest
Vodafone Idea
(Vi), a late entrant, launched next-generation services in March 2025.
'Our direct-to-device 5G platform is SIM-less and designed for efficient, easy installation, delivering low-latency, high-speed connectivity ideal for virtual collaboration, gaming, and IoT applications,' Ravi added.
The public-sector telecom operator plans to extend trials of Quantum 5G FWA to cities such as Bengaluru, Pune, Gwalior, Chandigarh, Puducherry, and Visakhapatnam within this calendar year.
Telco's enterprise business segment, which contributes approximately 20% of BSNL's revenues, is targeted to grow by at least 15% next year through tailored IoT solutions, private 5G slicing, and government networks.
'We are expecting to maintain at least 5-6% of revenue from data services next year,' the top official added.
Further, Ravi said that once network quality becomes stable, people would latch onto BSNL's 4G network, enabling the company's service revenue to swell to more than 10%.
Recently, the Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said that once the ongoing deployment is completely secured, the Centre might look at placing a purchase order (PO) for procuring network gear for an additional 1 lakh 4G sites, following the Cabinet nod.
Experts say that the state-run telco must move up quickly and deploy 'several thousand' more 4G sites to match the private sector competition.
BSNL said that it is witnessing improved adoption of its 700 MHz spectrum deployments as device ecosystem support grows. The company is also in "advanced discussions with domestic smartphone manufacturers" to enable affordable bundling offers for customers.
The public sector telco said that it aims to take the benefits of advanced digital connectivity to 140-crore Indians, focusing on rural and remote regions, to align with the broader vision of a "digitally-empowered society."
Mumbai-based TCS-led consortium that includes Tejas Networks and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), is setting up data centres and a commercial 4G network, with a potential
BSNL 5G
upgrade, following a proof-of-concept (PoC).