BSNL is preparing for a big nationwide 5G rollout after expanding and stabilizing its 4G footprint
In sum – what to know:
Expanded 4G/5G – telco orders 19,000 new 4G sites with 5G software upgrades, building on 90,000 existing deployments led by TCS.
SIM-less 5G FWA – India’s first indigenous, SIM-free 5G fixed wireless service, targeting remote regions and enterprise users.
Enterprise focus – carrier eyes revenue growth and national digital inclusion with 5G SA core, slicing, and IoT; another 100,000 sites in pipe.
Indian state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) expects its enterprise business to grow by at least 15% in 2025, powered by IoT, private 5G, slicing, and “digital public infrastructure”. It currently contributes around 20% of its revenues; a 15% hike would take it to 23% on a like-for-like basis. The firm is in the process of extending its 4G footprint in India, and setting about the test and launch of new services on certain regional 5G Standalone (SA) tranches of its network.
It has ordered an additional 19,000 4G sites with software upgrade paths to 5G, following the activation of 90,000 4G sites across India. Compatriot IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) secured a contract in May to supply nearly 18,700 of the sites, according to local press. The TCS deal covers planning, installation, and maintenance.
Separately, BSNL is now offering its 5G network-as-a-service (NaaS) “model” in Delhi, with pilots also running in Mumbai and other major metro areas. The setup, geared for fixed wireless access (FWA), uses a standalone (SA) 5G core, plus “locally-made technology”. The plan is to offer advanced features like network slicing, industrial IoT, and other mission-critical services.
It referred to the NaaS offer as a “direct-to-device 5G platform”, which is “SIM-less”, and designed for easy deployment. It claims to offer low-latency and high-speed connectivity for “gaming, virtual collaboration, and smart devices”. Its 5G FWA pilots will be expanded to other cities including Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Chandigarh and Gwalior by September 2025.
It has also soft-launched a 5G FWA offering in the 700 MHz and 3.3 GHz spectrum bands in Hyderabad for both rural and high-capacity urban coverage. The new FWA service is branded as Quantum 5G FWA — although no quantum comms technologies are involved. It is targeting enterprises, businesses, gated communities and individual households.
Last month, the Indian government confirmed that BSNL is planning to deploy another 100,000 4G towers across the country, following the successful installation of nearly 100,000 towers. India’s Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, has the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was planning to approach the Union Cabinet for approval of the next phase of BSNL’s 4G expansion.
In May 2023, BSNL awarded a contract to a TCS-led consortium, which includes Tejas Networks, the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) — the developer of BSNL’s 4G core — and ITI Ltd. The agreement covers the supply of 4G equipment for 100,000 telecom towers. It also includes network components, along with third-party elements and a 10-year annual maintenance contract.
The company is preparing for a nationwide 5G rollout after reaching a stabilization of its ongoing 4G deployment, according to recent reports, which cited the country’s Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, as saying.
Scindia confirmed that BSNL will switch to 5G technology only after its 4G network is fully stabilized and meets service quality standards. “Once the 100,000 towers [are] put up and the network is stabilized, once we see that the QoS is up to the mark… then we start switching. Moving from 4G to 5G is not that difficult,” the official said.
