Private telecom operators in India such as Jio, Airtel and Vi hiked their tariff plans in July by 15 percent on average. This prompted many subscribers in India to switch to BSNL due to its affordable recharge plans. The state-owned company is also taking advantage of the situation to win back subscribers. The company is rapidly rolling out its 4G services across the country and has started trials for 5G services.
However, many experts feel subscribers who are switching to BSNL will return to private telecom operators due to the expected quality lag of BSNL's upcoming 4G services compared to private telecom operators.
Why BSNL 4G may lag in quality?
This quality lag for BSNL's 4G is largely attributed to its spectrum strategy, specifically the use of the 2100 MHz and 700 MHz bands for deploying the network. Experts indicate that the 2100 MHz band may not provide good coverage and reach for quality 4G services.
BSNL has deployed over 20,000 sites on the 2100 MHz band in various regions, along with utilising the 700 MHz band for capacity. However, experts suggest that BSNL's choice to primarily deploy the network on the 2100 MHz band may not pose a risk to other operators like Vodafone Idea in terms of 4G services.
While BSNL aims to upgrade its 3G services in the 2100 MHz band to 4G and use the 700 MHz band for coverage and capacity, officials mentioned that the company may consider leveraging the 700 MHz band for 5G in the future. However, currently, there's no evaluation of any proposal to allocate 800 MHz spectrum to BSNL.
BSNL 5G plan
In terms of 5G services, BSNL's possession of the 700 MHz band is noted to potentially offer strong competition to Vodafone Idea and Airtel. Additionally, experts suggest that BSNL's use of the 700 MHz and 3500 MHz bands for 5G could give the company an advantage, particularly as it could have less network congestion compared to other operators.
BSNL is currently preparing to launch 4G services commercially and is also considering running 5G trials.
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