BSNL secures land to expand 4G Coverage in J&K's uncovered Villages

The land transfer was approved by the Administrative Council in April, under the direction of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha

The Jammu and Kashmir Government's Revenue Department has issued an order dated August 25, 2023 in order to facilitate the land transfer to BSNL (a state-owned telco) for the purpose of enabling 4G mobile service saturation in formerly underserved villages throughout the region.

BSNL is in charge of ensuring connectivity in every remote location as part of the government's 4G saturation plan. The Union Cabinet approved a project in 2022 to provide 4G mobile connections to all of the country's disconnected villages.

According to the government order, "Sanction is hereby accorded to the transfer of land measuring 37 Kanal 07 Sarsai at 93 different locations in favour of BSNL for saturation of 5G mobile services in district Reasi, Udhampur, Doda, Shopian, Baramulla, Pulwama, Ramban, Kishtwar, and Rajouri in terms of authorization pursuant to Administrative Council Decision No March 26, 2023."

In accordance with the order, the land transfer is carried out on a "as is, where is" basis with the sole purpose of aiding BSNL's 4G mobile service saturation. This usage is dependent upon receiving the applicable building permits.

The land transfer was approved by the Administrative Council in April, under the direction of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. This was a crucial first step towards the saturation of 4G mobile services in previously untapped areas throughout Jammu and Kashmir.

The 4G Saturation project began carrying out inFebruary 2023 after receiving Union Cabinet permission in July of the previous year. The government set aside Rs 26,316 crore from the Universal Service Obligation Fund to pay for this large-scale project. It is predicted that the project will be finished in500 days.

For a while now, BSNL has been losing subscribers. This has a real impact on the telco’s ability to increase revenues. BSNL saw a loss of about 1.8 million users in the month of June 2023, according to the latest TRAI data, bringing the total subscriber count to 99,476,822 ( nearly 99.5 million), well below the 100 million subscriber mark.

BSNL is currently working on rolling up its own 4G/5G network. The telco will purchase the hardware from Tata Group-owned Tejas Networks. The systems integrator for BSNL will be TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), another business in the Tata Group. The BSNL 4G deployment is anticipated to begin soon. In the Punjab state, the telco has previously conducted a beta launch. Over 200 live test sites are being used by BSNL to gather input so that, once everything is in order, a large-scale deployment can proceed.

By October or November 2023, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will stop losing subscribers, according to telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The company would be able to give the private telecom carriers in the coming year fierce competition, the minister said in addition to announcing the third relief package. “Once the rollout of 4G and 5G takes place, the company will stop losing its subscribers,” he claimed.