New Delhi, March 28: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is currently deploying 100,000 fully indigenous 4G towers as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, utilizing Core technology from C-DOT, telecom towers (RAN) from Tejas Networks, and system integration by TCS.
At the Times Now Summit 2025, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia announced that the government plans to complete the rollout by June this year, with plans to upgrade these towers to 5G once the target is met.
"Currently, only four countries—China, Finland, Sweden, and South Korea—have companies that produce a telecom stack. India is now the fifth country to achieve this milestone with our own indigenous 4G telecom stack. Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, BSNL is deploying 100,000 fully indigenous 4G towers. This includes Core technology by C-DOT, RAN by Tejas Networks, and system integration by TCS. Our goal is to complete this by June, after which these towers will be upgraded to 5G. We are also already working on 6G," Scindia said at the summit.
The Minister also highlighted BSNL’s recent financial turnaround, revealing that the company has achieved profitability for the first time in 18 years. In the October-December quarter, BSNL posted a net profit of Rs 262 crore, a stark contrast to the Rs 1,262 crore loss reported in the same quarter last year. Additionally, the company reduced costs by 18%, leading to a threefold increase in EBITDA, from Rs 450 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.
"BSNL is ahead of the curve with the launch of Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite messaging services. India remains one of the few countries with four competing telecom operators, while many global markets are seeing telecom consolidation. In India, we are witnessing rapid telecom expansion," Scindia added.
