Delays in BSNL’s 4G network rollout hinder India's plans to export 4G, 5G tech

5G

The delay in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL's) 4G network rollout has impeded the government's plan to export indigenously designed 4G and 5G network technology to countries that have shown interest, people familiar with the development said.

The government now wants the indigenously developed stack to be deployed at scale and validated by the state-owned telco before it considers offering it to other countries.

“There is interest, but we want to have a solid deployment here and show the world that it works. Once that happens, there are many takers of it in several countries,” a top government official said on condition of anonymity.

India has received inquiries from at least 15 telecom operators and bilateral inquiries from nine nations, including Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Egypt.

“Besides the stack being deployed by BSNL, Jio’s stack is also available, which they want to take to other markets. With their plans to take it to other markets, it will be good for our telecom equipment market,” another official said.

The government's plan to introduce local telecom technology by the second half of 2024 has been delayed due to various factors, including a hold up in equipment supply and deployment.

BSNL has been trying to launch its 4G network for the past two years but has faced significant delays. It has deployed 15,000 4G towers in circles such as Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh West, and Haryana and plans to increase this number to 80,000 by the end of October.

The remaining 21,000 will be deployed by March, which means the government will achieve its target of deploying one lakh towers of a 4G network by March 2025.

Moneycontrol reported on August 13 that the state-owned telco will launch its 5G services within six to eight months after completing the March 2025 pan-India 4G rollout.

BSNL awarded contracts worth Rs 19,000 crore to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tejas Networks, and government-owned ITI for deploying the 4G network, which can be upgraded to 5G.

Another official said that the 4G core technology, which runs on a cloud-based architecture, is powering BSNL’s 4G network and is tested to handle millions of subscribers. The 4G core technology would also support BSNL's 5G network, the official said.

Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, also plans to export its indigenously developed technologies to the rest of the world, having deployed them at scale to power its 4G and 5G networks.

It has previously said it was seeing interest from global operators for its 5G stack, which includes 5G radio, core, OSS/BSS, small and pico cells and other software solutions,

Jio's investments in next-generation network and digital technologies would sustain a competitive edge and market share gains, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in its report for 2023-24, released on August 7. “This will ensure strong and consistent shareholder returns over the coming years,” it said.

Jio Platforms and its subsidiaries filed for 1,255 patents and were granted 144 in FY24. The cumulative count of patents granted increased to 331 as of March. “These patents span 6G, 5G, AI, LLM, Deep Learning, Big Data, Devices, IoT and NB-IoT,” RIL said.

Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.