The government has approved Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limnited’s (BSNL) plan to go ahead with a Rs 26,821 crore order to IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for rolling out the state-run telco’s 4G network.

According to media reports, the telco will soon give the purchase order to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for 100,000 sites.

As part of the deal, along with setting up the 4G sites, TCS will have to maintain the network for nine years.

According to an official in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), BSNL, with some 111 million wireless subscribers, will aim to launch 4G services by December or January, and gradually roll out the network across the country.

The supply will be staggered as TCS has to ramp up production of radio equipment and there is a shortage of chipsets.

Tejas Networks, a unit of Tata Sons, the parent company of TCS, is expected to locally manufacture the network equipment for BSNL.

After the start of 4G services, BSNL is aiming to launch 5G services by August next year. Officials said that the expanded rollout of 4G and 5G will happen simultaneously.

It is to be mentioned that the loss making firm was forced to cancel a tender for 4G services in 2020 due to restrictive conditions for domestic firms. Eventually, it was directed to only utilize equipment from domestic companies.

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