Every private telecom operator in the country is expecting to launch 5G services by the end of this year. What the whole country is waiting for is the auction of spectrum. The government has not announced a specific date for the auction, so there is still no clarity on that. A source told PTI that private telecom companies will launch 5G this year, while state-run telecom company BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) will launch 5G in 2023. This year the focus of BSNL will be on launching 4G network.
State-run BSNL aims to launch indigenous 4G network, for which a domestic 4G core has already been developed in partnership with TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and C-DoT (Center for Development of Telematics).
BSNL will bring indigenous 5G
Whether private telecom companies will go for indigenous 5G or not, it will be clear, BSNL will! The state-run telecom operator was also working on 5G when it was testing 4G solutions with its local partners. But the thing is that the government has not yet allotted 5G spectrum to BSNL. Now it will be interesting to see what BSNL gets from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for providing 5G services.
BSNL to launch 5G on 4G core; In other words, the telco will leverage 5G NSA (non-standalone) technology to launch 5G services for users in India. To do this, BSNL first needs a 4G network. Thus, by the end of this year, BSNL will launch 4G in many states/cities in the country. Some of these places include Pune, Maharashtra and Kerala (state-wide).
By August, BSNL will start testing 4G network in four districts of Kerala. Also, BSNL can test 4G network in other states as well. Nothing has been said from BSNL at the moment, but things will become clear in a few months. For now, the industry’s focus will be on spectrum auction.