Never-ending 4G woes for India's BSNL

State-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has recently been in the news for attracting subscribers from private telcos because it hasn't hiked tariffs. But the company may find it tough to make the most of this market opportunity.

The service provider's nationwide launch of 4G services has been delayed again since it has managed to set up only 10,000 4G basestations, far fewer than its target of at least 20,000 basestations at the time of the 4G launch. To put this into context, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have together set up 452,055 (by the end of July 2024) 5G base transceiver stations (BTSs) to provide pan-India coverage. 

While BSNL is initially attracting subscribers from other telcos, such as Vodafone Idea, it may not be able to hold onto these subscribers as it is unlikely to offer quality 4G services. Vodafone Idea's CEO Akshaya Moondra hinted at this during the company's recent earnings call. 

According to media reports, BSNL is now likely to launch commercial 4G services in October this year.  

BSNL has been lagging behind private telcos Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which launched 4G services in 2016. A key reason for this is that the government mandated it to use an indigenously developed 4G network. To this end, BSNL signed a deal with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in collaboration with the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) worth 150 billion Indian rupees (US$1.78 billion) to set up 100,000 4G sites across the country.

However, the initiative has run into several problems and delays. Media reports also suggest BSNL was forced to seek help from other vendors, including Nokia and ZTE, to optimize the indigenously developed network.  

This delay in offering 4G networks is pushing subscribers to port out from BSNL's network. The delay is also embarrassing for the government, which has been touting the Atma Nirbhar (self-reliant) policy. BSNL's indigenously developed 4G network would have been an apt showcase for this policy.