BSNL Can Break Partnership With TCS, And Select Reliance Jio To Launch 4G Across India! But Why?

By Shreya Bose Last updated Nov 3, 2022

BSNL may opt to partner with Reliance Jio to upgrade its networks to 4G countrywide.

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Consortium breaks up

Jio has reportedly developed an indigenous EPC (4G core) which can be later upgraded to 5G.

Earlier BSNL had tied up with TCS, Tejas Networks and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) consortium.

It is now ditching them due to high costs, believing that the bid prices offered by the Tata Group are too high.

It aims to upgrade over 1,00,000 towers around the country to 4G.

It is also facing troubles with confirming the supplier for 4G equipment.

It can only choose from local firms since the government has strictly refused to work with foreign vendors.

The Tata Group consortium, including C-DoT, despite being the frontrunners for helping BSNL launch 4G networks, might be ruled out.

For each and every bid that the consortium has made, the price quoted has gone above Rs 20,000 crore.

However, the state-run telco’s own estimates suggest that Jio is also a viable option if the costs can be kept in check.

Along with Jio other companies such as L&T, HFCL, and Tech Mahindra may also be in the running since they have shown proof of concept.

However, all this could delay the project by 18 months, which is a significant delay and would kick BSNL completely out from the market.

The need of the hour is for the telco to begin the deployment of 4G across the country as soon as possible.

Failure to do so may upend its plans of upgrading to 5G in the coming years.