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Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
BSNL deploys 93,450 towers for commercial 4G foray: Jyotiraditya Scindia
NEW DELHI: State-controlled Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ( BSNL ) has deployed 93,450 towers for its commercial 4G foray using the indigenous telecom stack, union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday. 'We are at 93,450 towers that have been installed. Still, a long way to go, but we are on track,' Scindia said at the curtain raiser event of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025, which will be held in the national capital this year between October 8 and October 11. The union minister informed that the Ministry of Communications earlier in the day took stock of BSNL's 4G deployment nationwide. The Centre has been bullish about BSNL's transition from 3G to 4G using 'Atmanirbhar' (self-reliant), domestically developed equipment. 'We have C-DoT as a public sector firm, BSNL as a government company, Tejas Networks as a private sector company, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as a system integrator. All four came together, and in 22 months, produced the first domestic stack,' Scindia said, adding that India has become the fifth country globally to have its indigenous telecom stack. China (Huawei and ZTE), Finland (Nokia), Sweden (Ericsson), and South Korea (Samsung) are the other four countries that have their homegrown telecom stack. A TCS-led consortium that comprises the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and Tejas Networks, along with ITI Limited, is deploying 1 lakh 4G sites for the public sector telecom carrier under a nearly ₹19,000-crore deal. The Tata group IT firm recently won a new advance purchase order (APO) worth ₹2,903.22 crore from BSNL for planning, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and annual maintenance of 4G mobile network at 18,685 sites. Tejas' share in the APO deal is valued at approximately ₹1,525.53 crores (exclusive of taxes). Scindia said that the country should develop capabilities to provide services in the domestic market, and also drive indigenous production. 'We have to ensure that India becomes a hub for designing. So you have designing, solving and scaling from India,' the union minister said, adding that the Bharat 6G Alliance is driving public-private sector connect for sixth-generation (6G) development. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will organise its next World Radio Communications (WRC) conference in 2027 to deliberate and decide on airwaves and related modalities for the 6G technology. 'It is from now till then that our entrepreneurs, our companies, our innovators, across the board, must aspire to ensure that India leads that technology way in the days to come,' Scindia said. The union minister also launched the 'Sanchar Mitra Scheme', which aims to empower a wider youth network to act as digital ambassadors, further strengthening the connection between the telecom ecosystem and the citizens. In addition to public awareness efforts, the scheme will also provide student volunteers exposure to emerging telecom technologies and DoT initiatives, fostering job-readiness and research interest in the sector. Neeraj Mittal, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), said while India was a laggard in 4G, it went stride-for-stride with the world in the 5G-era, and will lead globally in 6G deployments. 'I think that is the promise and dream which all of us would like to see fulfilled,' he added. Abhijit Kishore, chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India & chief operating officer (COO), Vodafone Idea (Vi), said, 'The task for us at COAI and industry is to connect the dots on how to showcase the collective potential of the industry and become a playground for all in the world to converge and leverage technology and put it to larger use of citizens and end customers.' Organised by the telecom department and COAI, this year's IMC is expected to attract over 1.5 lakh visitors from over 150 countries, and more than 7,000 global delegates. It will include use case demonstrations across 5G, 6G, AI, IoT, electronics manufacturing, and green technology domains.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
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.
