State-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will finally start its 4G services in the country in 2018. The first circle where BSNL will launch its 4G network will be Kerala, where the company expects to debut its services next month. “We are going to start 4G from Kerala. That will be our first circle…
State-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will finally start its 4G services in the country in 2018. The first circle where BSNL will launch its 4G network will be Kerala, where the company expects to debut its services next month.
“ We are going to start 4G from Kerala. That will be our first circle on 4G LTE. We will initially focus on those areas where 3G coverage is low,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.
After Kerala, BSNL plans to start 4G services in Odisha, which happens to be a revenue positive circle for the telco. Further expansion, however, will require additional spectrum, which BSNL currently lacks. In order to solve this problem, BSNL plans to gain another 5MHz spectrum in the 2100MHz band in lieu of additional equity to the government. In Rajasthan, however, BSNL is looking for spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
“ Once the additional 5MHz spectrum comes to us, we will start rolling out in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other places. So the network will become 2G, 3G, and 4G with enhanced data capability, ” Shrivastava added. The DPR has apparently been approved by the board already and is expected to be submitted to the government soon. BSNL hopes that it will have around 10,000 4G mobile towers by March next year. Once it gains the additional spectrum, this number will, of course, rise further.
BSNL currently has 10 crore mobile customers across the country (except Mumbai and Delhi). Rolling out 4G services is expected to help the telco gain new subscribers by offering much faster data speeds. Shrivastava also revealed that BSNL is planning to launch a separate brand for 4G services. More details regarding the new brand entity are expected to be announced at the time of rollout its 4G LTE services in Kerala next month.
