Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says BSNL's 4G delay due to indigenous tech bet

New Delhi: The delay in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)'s 4G rollout was due to India's decision to develop an indigenous technology stack instead of procuring foreign equipment, communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday. Despite the delay, BSNL has built and deployed a proprietary stack in 22 months, he said.

Around 98,000 towers are currently radiating 4G signals using the homegrown technology, with another 50,000-60,000 towers planned. This will be followed by a transition to 5G, he added. "The reason why the rollout of 4G has taken time is because we chose to develop our own stack. Countries across the world haven't done it. India did it in 22 months," Scindia said at the Times Now Summit.

State-run BSNL has faced delays in launching 4G services even as private rivals Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have rolled out 5G networks.


Under a government mandate, BSNL is using a domestic stack developed by Tata Consultancy Services, along with Tejas Networks and C-DoT.

The minister said BSNL has outlined a large capital expenditure plan over the next five years to compete with private operators and expand its subscriber base.

The capex will be funded primarily through internal accruals, with the company using cash generated from recent operating profits to finance investments. "Last year, we undertook the highest capex in BSNL's history-close to ₹20,000 crore in a single year," Scindia said, adding that such large-scale investments led to significant depreciation costs.