&w=3840&q=100)
BSNL, Numaligarh sign pact for 5G private network in refinery sector
The memorandum of understanding between the companies was signed during the "Industry 4.0 Workshop for CPSEs" organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Finance in Guwahati.
"Under this MoU, BSNL and NRL will collaborate to deploy India's first 5G CNPN (Captive Non-Public Network) within the refinery sector, ushering in a new era of secure, ultra-reliable, and real-time industrial connectivity. This initiative is a pioneering step in leveraging indigenous 5G infrastructure for mission-critical operations," the statement said.
BSNL has just started offering 4G service, but holds spectrum that can be used for 5G services.
"The partnership between BSNL and NRL is expected to set the stage for replicable models across other industrial sectors, reinforcing the Government of India's vision for a digitally empowered and self-reliant Bharat," the statement said.
BSNL chairman and managing director A Robert J Ravi said the partnership exemplifies BSNL's commitment to empowering India's strategic sectors with next-generation digital infrastructure.
"The deployment of a dedicated 5G CNPN at NRL will mark a technological leap forward, not only in connectivity but in redefining how core industries can operate in the future. As a trusted public telecom provider, BSNL is proud to pioneer this journey toward a self-reliant, digitally intelligent Bharat," the statement said.
BSNL, Enterprise Business Director, Papa Sudhakara Rao said the collaboration represents a historic milestone in the adoption of 5G and Industry 4.0 within India's industrial ecosystem.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
PLI scheme creates 28,000 new jobs, ₹47,000-crore BSNL capex in works: Jyotiraditya Scindia
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is leaving no stone unturned in creating a conducive environment for the telecom industry and is aggressively monitoring service quality as the country's telecom market achieves new milestones. In an interaction with ETTelecom's Muntazir Abbas, Union Minister of Communications and the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia speaks on state-run BSNL 's 4G network expansion, capital expenditure (capex) strategy, quality of service, Vodafone Idea health, and 6G-led innovation. Edited excerpts. How many 4G (fourth generation) network sites have been deployed so far by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), and by when commercial 5G is expected? The 4G is a huge priority, not only for BSNL, but for the Department of Telecommunications. I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that it's a huge priority for the country too. When BSNL was entering into 4G, it had the same option that the other private players had, which was to buy international equipment and execute it. The Prime Minister was very clear and said that if we are laying out the 4G network, then BSNL must deploy it based on Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) equipment. Eventually, in a record time of 22 months, we had a private sector player, Tejas Networks , that was doing the RAN, and a public sector player, CDoT, that was doing the core software. And we had a domestic system integrator, TCS, that was doing the integration. to roll out a domestic solution. In the last year, roughly from June-July last year till now, we have deployed close to 91,000 sites out of a total of 95,000-96,000. Now, we are tying it up with the core software and are running simulations to ensure quality of services. The second part of this expansion, with an additional 22,000-25,000 sites, will have to take place. Once the quality of service has been ensured, we will look at the possibilities of 5G as well. Still analysts feel that the number of 4G sites which you have just mentioned are still far to reach the mark anywhere closer to what private sector telcos have already deployed? Once the network is perfected, rolling out the balance towers is not that difficult to do. Now, we have also looked at what that will entail. We have another close to ₹47,000 crore capex plan in place for BSNL. Meanwhile, BSNL has done its highest-ever capex of ₹25,000 crores during last year. For the first time in the history of BSNL, the ministry held a 12-hour-long meeting with all the 32 CGMs across every circle in India with an idea to exchange best practices and local priorities, as well as to promote entrepreneurship. All three business verticals— enterprise business (EB), consumer mobility (CM) and consumer fixed access (CFA)— are doing well. Sometime back, you may have noticed MP police ported out as many as 80,000 CUG connections? BSNL is a service provider like any other company. It must survive in a competitive environment like any other player. BSNL has lost out with the MP police because it was a competitive tender-based procedure. There have been other tenders where we won government orders. Within MP only we won with another arm of the government for close to about 35,000 SIM cards. We won the tender against all the private players. READ MORE | MoS Telecom Pemmasani asks BSNL to improve service quality, resolve tower power issues Despite bottlenecks, BSNL has apparently gained new subscribers. Can you share a few data points? We have grown from 8.55 crore subscribers last year to about 9.1 crore after a long time. For the first time in our history, after 17 years, we have shown net profit. In Q3 of FY2024-25, our net profit was ₹262 crores, and in Q4, BSNL's net profit was about ₹280 crores. On an operating basis, our EBITDA margin has increased to about 20% from 12.5% in Q3 of 2024. The operating margin was about ₹2,300 crores. It has now grown to nearly ₹5,395 crores, which means in one year, BSNL has increased its operating margin by 156%. Now we have to ensure the quality of service (QoS). Any update on BharatNet (amended) 3 program as four packages are yet to be re-tendered? By October-November, I think those should be done. All 12 packages are done. The state-run company just recently partnered with multinationals for training purposes. What's the idea behind it? We have introduced the Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training (BRBRAITT) in Jabalpur which is the property of BSNL. We have introduced an ecosystem environment where Ericsson, Qualcomm, Nokia and Cisco— the world majors from are going to set up training modules for all our young people. We have a target of training between 1,000 to 2,000 students per year. A lot of them will be picked up by these majors. What is the update on the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI)? PLI has been a huge success. ₹4,305 crores worth of investment has come in, and ₹80,000 crores worth of sales have been made, ₹16,500 crores worth of exports have been done, and close to 28,000 jobs have been created. 42 companies have participated in this. For the first time, companies like Cisco, Ericsson and Nokia are today tying up with domestic companies and doing production from here. READ MORE | Scindia, Pemmasani review BSNL's operational progress, 4G roll out The government is the largest stakeholder in Vodafone Idea. Do you think there is a need to take some concrete steps? For every company— be it Vodafone Idea or Jio or Airtel or even for that matter BSNL, it is for the management of those companies to determine what their future is going to be. We are a 49% stakeholder in Vodafone Idea today, but we do not intend to go above it because the minute you go above 49%, then it becomes a PSU, which is not the government's intention. On the telecom network side, are you satisfied with the quality of service (QoS) presently? Yes, I think as far as what the TRAI guidelines are, all our four telecom service providers today are above these service-level agreements and service-level benchmarks that are in place today. I think Vodafone Idea is just close to the benchmark— a little below in the Northeast in a recent test drive. But otherwise, all are above that. We are looking at what the benchmarks are internationally. Initially, telcos were reporting on a quarterly basis. Now, the telcos must report it monthly. So that is going to be a continuous process of refinement. It is something that is top of mind for me. This is something I monitor very closely on my dashboard to ensure providing the best quality of service to the customers. What are the few milestones in India's telecom sector? We are already the cheapest service in the world. Today, a voice call is hardly 3 paise, compared to 50 paise 10 years ago. Today, data is ₹9.87 per gigabyte (GB) versus ₹287 10 years ago. We have huge economies of scale, which is why today we have 1.16 billion mobile customers. We have grown on the internet from 240 million to close to 970 million users currently. We have grown on broadband, which is greater than 1 GB, from 60 million customers to close to 944 million customers. The government has formed a 6G alliance to contribute meaningfully to the global standards and patents by 2030. Any updates? Bharat 6G Alliance is doing its job. I just had a review in Bengaluru. I spent nearly 3 hours with them. Our goal is to ensure that we contribute 10% of patents. In the 6G standard symposium with ITU and 3GPP, we are well on our way. We have seven verticals, and each of them is working seriously. I am taking periodic reviews and monitoring it because we have to make sure that we come up with product innovation.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
5 hours ago
- Business Standard
Net profitability is ultimate measure of turnaround for BSNL: Panel on PSUs
The committee on public undertakings has asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the ministry of communications to speed up the pace of achieving profitability at the net level, while also ensuring that the target of setting up 100,000 4G sites by June 2025 and subsequent 5G launch are met. 'While BSNL has made progress in operational efficiency and revenue stabilisation, it continues to post substantial net losses. The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that BSNL, with active oversight from DoT, establish a clear and time-bound roadmap to convert its operational gains and positive Ebitda into net profit,' the committee said, adding that the ultimate measure of a successful turnaround was achieving net profitability. BSNL's revenue from operations has shown a declining trend from ₹22,668 crore in 2017-18 to ₹16,809 crore in 2021-22, with a slight recovery to ₹19,128 crore in 2022-23. However, losses continued with a net loss of ₹8,162 crore in 2022-23. BSNL had informed the committee that 83,993 4G sites had been deployed as of March 2025, of which 74,521 were live. Another 22,215 4G sites were planned under the expansion phase. In response to the committee's suggestion of having a clear roadmap for 5G launch, the ministry said that the number four telco by customers was considering non-standalone architecture or NSA as well as standalone architecture or SA, for providing 5G services and had issued a tender for 5G as a service in Delhi zone in December 2024. The decision to change from NSA with upgradation of existing 4G core to 5G SA was taken considering the maturity of 5G related specifications. The committee suggested that DoT should seek a one-time exemption or a phased implementation plan from the Ministry of Finance, for BSNL employees, since the CPSE did not qualify for the third pay revision guidelines as per Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines since it was a loss making CPSE since 2009-10. This was the reason that superannuation contribution was not increased, but the government said that revision of allowances can be examined after revision of pay under 3rd PRC based on affordability. The committee noted that prolonged stagnation in pay and benefits can severely impact employee morale and motivation, which was counterproductive to BSNL's revival efforts. As a means to increase customer retention and reduce customer complaints, the committee sought a detailed action plan, including specific timelines and technological upgrades, aimed at proactively reducing complaint volumes and significantly improving the average resolution time to meet higher benchmarks. The government apprised the committee that monetisation target assigned by Cabinet was ₹ 1,000 crore per year effective from 2026-27 which includes sale of land parcels and rental income, which the telco was aiming to achieve. 'BSNL is having its agreements with all TSPS viz. RJIL, Airtel and Vi. BSNL is further approaching entities like Prasar Bharti and other service providers like ISPs, PMRTS etc. for leasing out the BSNL towers infrastructure for extension of their services and testing new technologies etc. to increase number of leased out towers,' the government said in the response to suggestions for monetisation of assets at a wider level and faster clip. 'BSNL has already signed an agreement for 5G commercials with Reliance Jio and is in process of reaching an agreement with Airtel and Vodafone Idea for extending 5G services through leased towers of BSNL,' the ministry of communications said.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
7 hours ago
- Business Standard
Net profitability seen as BSNL's true turnaround test: Committee on PSUs
A parliamentary panel has asked BSNL to reach net profitability quickly, meet 4G-5G rollout targets, improve employee morale, and monetise assets more aggressively BS Reporter New Delhi Listen to This Article The Committee on Public Undertakings (2025-26), comprising members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, has asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the Ministry of Communications to accelerate efforts to achieve net profitability, while ensuring that the target of setting up 100,000 4G sites by June 2025 and the subsequent 5G launch are met. 'While BSNL has made progress in operational efficiency and revenue stabilisation, it continues to post substantial net losses. The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that BSNL, with active oversight from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), establish a clear and time-bound roadmap to convert its operational
