Imagine if you are the pioneer of telecommunication services in the country. You brought distant voices from long distances closer to the ears and hearts of the people. You become the beloved love candy of the nation. But then, privatization takes place, you start facing heat from private organizations. You start lagging in services. You start finding it difficult to compete with those forces. Still, you slog and try to serve your customers as well as you can.
But the world has become faster now! The speed of telecommunication has increased multiple folds. The world and the nation both are preparing for the 5G ( at a time when you haven’t completely rolled out 4G as well, then it’s a bummer for you, ain’t it?) And still when you somehow muster up the courage to roll out a fullfledged 4G network you keep on meeting numerous obstacles on the way! Isn’t God testing the limits of your patience now?
This is the story of our national telecom services provider, BSNL
TCS is proposing 128 deviations
The TCS-led consortium has proposed around 128 deviations in the 4G equipment specifications, with the highest number of deviations proposed in the radio network, at a whopping 71.
Along with that TCS led consortium has proposed deviations to the deferred core at 13, deferred radio at 20, networking at 6, and core at 18.
“Acceptance of such deviations will cost BSNL in future once the rollout happens and it will not only jeopardize the interests of BSNL’s business prospects but also adversely impact the customer experience as well as BSNL’s competitive strength,” BSNL CMD PK Purwar, said.
BSNL cannot take the decision on its own and has to ask for further direction from DoT (Department of Telecommunications).
Roll out of BSNL 4G can be delayed
The TCS-led consortium is among the most promising candidate to develop the 4G solution to rollout BSNL’s network. TCS has partnered with C-DoT for the core network and Tejas and Altiostar for radio equipment and will conduct the trials at Chandigarh. Tech Mahindra, HFCL, L&T, and ITI have also been selected to do trials.
BSNL expects a 4G rollout within a period of 10 months once the trials are successfully completed. If the trials are successfully completed in four months, the network can be rolled out after 14 months from there onwards. But, in case the trials are delayed, the rollout might also be delayed.