Work on in full swing for BSNL’s 4G services: MoS

New Delhi: If all goes as per the plan, then the users of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) would soon get the 4G services as the public telecom service provider is gearing up to offer 4G services and work is on in full swing to bring these services to consumers soon.

While talking to Millennium Post, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan on Tuesday said that after the approval of deployment of one lakh BSNL 4G sites by the Group of Ministers (GoMs), the 4G services of BSNL would start soon as various sites have been identified and the government is keen to start the services soon.

BSNL is coming with indigenous 4G technology, which took some time, but now the telecom corporation is aggressively working on bringing these services to consumers.

Chauhan also expressed satisfaction with the pace of 5G roll-outs in the country. “If you see globally, no other country has achieved such a speedy 5G roll-out. Today 5G roll-outs have touched over 800 districts,” the minister said. In a separate discussion over BSNL’s 4G rollout, a senior official said, “The public telecom service provider is working round the clock to start 4G services as the users who are associated with the BSNL need to get the benefit of the latest technology. Testing and other formalities are in place.”

On the need to revive BSNL, the official said, “Every country, including America, has their own state-owned telecom service provider. So, India will have to have a government owned service provider for the strategic security reasons.”

The government has also approved a revival package of Rs 1,64,000 crore for revival of BSNL. The revival measures focus on infusing fresh capital for upgrading BSNL services, allocating spectrum. de-stressing its balance sheet and augmenting its fibre network by merging Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with BSNL. The BSNL would also implement indigenously developed 4G and 5G technology stat.