BSNL customers in Kerala have been missing out on 4G, but it seems that these days will soon be gone, since, according to a new report by Mathrubhumi, the consumers of the telco in South India might soon get the ability to enjoy 4G. According to a new plan, around 15,000 network towers in Southern India will be upgraded to offer 4G connectivity. Out of these 15,000 towers, around 80% are present in Kerala. The towers, which come equipped with Nokia’s BTS or Base Transceiver Station, will now get an additional system to transmit the 4G network.
Is BSNL 4G Really Coming to Kerala?
The management of BSNL (Bharti Sanchar Nigam Limited) recently approved the project, which mandated the need for the permission of the board director. This 4G spectrum, which was allocated to the telco back in 2018 as part of a revival package can finally be used to offer the service. In case you were wondering, generic mobile towers feature two units, namely a radio part that is present on the top and a base part that is present on the bottom. BTS or Base Transceiver Station is a combination of the two and will be added to the radio part of the existing towers in and around Kerala. Once this process is completed, BSNL customers will finally be able to access better internet facilities. BSNL will be required to pay a whopping Rs 30 crore on a monthly basis to make use of 4G connectivity in the country, to use the spectrum that had been allotted to the telco by the Indian government. Interestingly, it seems that BSNL does not think of this to be any sort of burden, despite having lost ground to competitors such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, since this move could provide better service and could result in increasing revenues by capturing more customers in the region. Do note that this plan was proposed earlier, with the process of installing 4G systems by BSNL having been dropped due to the tender invitation which included a new guideline that mandates 20% Make-in-India equipment. As of now, BSNL owns around 60,000 towers spread across the country of India. BSNL had recently taken steps that could take it closer to the private telecom companies with the telco having has finally started the rollout of an SMS based sign up service. The consumers who wish to subscribe to a BSNL service can do so by sending the right message depending on what kind of connection they would like to have.
