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New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has allocated 5G spectrum worth ₹61,000 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd ( BSNL ), allowing the state-run firm to start offering the latest generation of telecom services at the earliest. Officials told ET that with the allocation, BSNL now has spectrum in premium bands such as the 700 MHz and 3300 MHz (mid-band) for 5G. The company is planning to launch 5G in select cities - starting with Delhi - and later expand to the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, replying to a question in Parliament on Wednesday on whether BSNL and MTNL are equipped with 5G, minister of state for communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said that the government has reserved spectrum in 700 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHZ to BSNL for providing 5G services. Advt "BSNL has placed purchase order for 1 lakh indigenously developed 4G sites for pan India deployment including Delhi and Mumbai. Supply of 4G equipment has started from September 2023 and as on March 8, 2025, total 83,993 4G sites have been installed and 74,521 sites are on-air.
The equipment is upgradable to 5G," he said. Officials said the government has provided enough funding to take care of capital expenditure needs for the near term and more funds will be allocated to BSNL as it commences mass scale 5G rollout. In February, the cabinet had approved an additional funding support of ₹6,000 crore to BSNL for its 4G expansion.
The funds are to be utilised to fulfil a shortfall in planned capex by BSNL and MTNL. BSNL, which is also managing the operations of MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai, has been losing customers due to lack of pan-India 4G services. The companies expect to minimise the attrition of users once the 4G and 5G services are rolled out across the country.
So far, the government has invested around ₹3.22 lakh crore in BSNL and MTNL as part of three revival packages since 2019, including the rollout of 4G services. As per the government, owing to these packages, BSNL-MTNL started earning operating profit from 2020-21.
By Kiran Rathee , ET Bureau Published On Apr 3, 2025 at 07:38 AM IST Telegram Facebook Copy Link Be the first one to comment. Comment Now COMMENTS Comment Now Read Comment (1) All Comments By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post Find this Comment Offensive? Choose your reason below and click on the submit button. This will alert our moderators to take actions REASONS FOR REPORTING Foul Language Defamatory Inciting hatred against a certain community Out of Context / Spam Others Report Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.
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