TCS wins new ₹2,903.22 crore advance purchase order from BSNL
NEW DELHI: Homegrown IT services firm
Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) has won a new advance purchase order (APO) worth ₹2,903.22 crore from state-controlled
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(
BSNL
) for its
4G network
at 18,685 sites.
'...the company has, on May 20, 2025, received an add-on Advance Purchase Order (APO) for ₹2,903.22 crore (inclusive of taxes) from BSNL for planning, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and annual maintenance of 4G mobile network at 18,685 sites,' the Mumbai-headquartered IT firm said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Tejas Networks
separately said, 'The value of supplies for Radio Access Network (RAN) and other equipment to TCS from Tejas for this deployment is expected to be approximately ₹1,525.53 crores (exclusive of taxes).'
TCS shares were up by 0.42% at ₹3,512.60, while Tejas was trading 3.02% higher at ₹745.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Thursday in opening hours.
A TCS-led consortium, which includes the
Centre for Development of Telematics
(
C-DoT
) and homegrown gear maker Tejas Networks, along with ITI Limited, is deploying a commercial 4G network for the telecom PSU under a ₹19,000 crore deal. This also includes network upgradation to fifth-generation (5G) technology.
While the Tata group's IT services arm is the system integrator, Tejas is supplying 4G/5G network equipment and C-DoT is supplying its network core solutions.
In August 2023, Tejas had bagged a ₹7,492 crore (about $900 million) contract to supply its latest 4G/5G RAN for BSNL's pan-India network, spanning 100,000 sites.
Anand Athreya, CEO & MD of Tejas Networks, at the company's latest post-earnings conference call said that the company has shipped 1 lakh sites for the
BSNL 4G network
, a milestone it achieved in 1.5-2 years.
'This is one of the largest single-vendor RAN network in the world ever delivered in record time. So I think I'm very proud of the team and also the consortium of TCS, C-DoT and also our customer BSNL for actually helping us make this happen,' Athreya had said.
Arnob Roy, COO & whole-time director at Tejas Networks, said during the call that the company is in 'advanced stage of discussions' with BSNL for follow-up deals for 4G and 5G networks, and expects to conclude these talks soon.
'BSNL has 100,000 towers, but many private operators have upwards of 200,000 towers. So we do look forward to a lot of the expansion of BSNL network for them to be able to compete with those operators,' the COO had said, adding that the network expansion represents a significant opportunity for Tejas Networks, both in terms of 4G network as well as upgrades to 5G, which is part of the tender that came out.
'There's a significant number of 5G upgrades as well. So a lot of work is going on in that area, a lot of trials and testing and PoCs are going on. And hopefully we should see some good business coming out of that, out of that incumbency that we have in the network,' he had said.
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