Government’s Blessing For Jio, BSNL Left To Rot In 3G Era. Was BSNL Intentionally Destroyed To Let JIO Grow?

BSNL, is being wiped out while the Private Telecom Sectors are Booming with the Government’s help.

BSNL, the tragic fall, once a rising star dominated the whole country, and now hardly scraping by. 

And most of all it’s a state-run company. The government is responsible for them.  

In this 21st century when everything runs at a 5G speed, our country’s sole state-run telecom company is still stuck at the 3G era. 

Everyone is moving on. To keep up with the current time, people need to move on and enter the next chapter, and when the only state-run enterprise cannot offer the needed support, people then started to seek that somewhere else, and the ‘private enterprises’ were all ready with exactly what people needed or could ask for. 

So, they started to boom rapidly, and why not when their biggest competitor is getting out of the picture, they get the upper hand. 

And it did not stop at the 4G era, now we are in the 5G world. And BSNL can’t even provide 4G support let alone 5G. It was BSNL who brought the 5G system in the first place but because of the lack of necessary equipment that needs to be supporting the 4G and 5G connection to this date, they are unable to do the upgrade. 

The only and main reason why BSNL didn’t get to do 4G upgradation then and now same with the 5G is because of the permission granted by the government. They never got it, and still to this date they are asking and have been requesting the telecom ministry to permit them. 

The former telecom ministry Ashwini Vaishnaw has made some grossly misleading statements all this time like, how BSNL will start rolling out 4G services soon then the 5G services right after around November – December, and it was told last year 2023.  

As it was published in the Economic Times last year in May, the then telecom minister mentioned two points, “BSNL has started rolling out 4G networks with 200 sites and after a three-month trial, it will launch an average of 20 sites per day”. Also, “the 4G network of BSNL will be upgraded to the 5G by November – December.  

And to this date, nothing of that has happened, let alone the BSNL employees are still making requests, writing letters to the government, and nothing that has been promised to have seen the light of day. 

By the calculation of last year if everything goes right only then, BSNL will probably be able to start its 4G network by the October of this year 2024. 

But even for that they do need all the equipment by then to be ready, but all this time they have been barred by the government to procure any necessary means to upgrade their 3G network to 4G.  

And if it wasn’t for that by now BSNL could have upgraded its existing 3G equipment to 4G equipment just by upgrading its software system. 

 Obviously, the government did this to stop BSNL from launching its 4G network, and by doing so they have completely handicapped BSNL the only state-run telecom company. 

Before BSNL procured their 2G and 3G equipment from only foreign vendors, so when they tried to do the same thing for 4G equipment, they were firmly stopped. In April 2020 when they tried to procure from global vendors 1 lakh 4G BTSs (Base Transceiver Stations) for launching their 4G services, they were simply stopped. The government canceled their tender. 

They were told they should not procure any equipment from foreign vendors, and later it was decided that TCS, which is an Indian company will provide the equipment to BSNL. 

Every time when BSNL was denied, Reliance Jio got the same permission for themselves. And the rest of the private sector falls in line and gets approvals. 

In fact, Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea got their 4G and 5G equipment from foreign vendors only.  

It was said last year as well that, TCS had indigenously manufactured the 4G equipment and was going through the field level trials at Amritsar, Firozepur, and Pathankot. So, it was expected in a few months the field-level trials would be completed and TCS would be in a position where they would be able to provide the entire 4G equipment in order for BSNL to start their pan–India 4G services. 

In recent news, it was told by the government that, TCS has indigenously developed technology and BSNL has started rolling out their 4G services in Punjab and telecom research organization C – Dot has onboarded subscribers. 

Last June when Jyotiraditya Scindia became the new communication minister BSNL Employees Union wrote a letter to him telling him about the recent unnecessary tariff hike by the private telecom sectors. 

As they continued in the letter, “Earlier, due to the competition from BSNL, the private telecom service providers were restrained from increasing their tariff capriciously. However, the scenario has changed now. BSNL has not been able to launch its 4G and 5G services till date, as a result of which it is handicapped from competing with the private operators and thereby restraining their arbitrary tariff hikes”. 

It is public knowledge now that all three private operators, Jio, Airtel, and Vi, have increased their mobile service rates by 10 – 27 percent. 

The reason the private telecom operators have given for the tariff hike is to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) which is a misleading reason. 

Further in the letter, it says, “Absolutely there is no reason for the private companies to raise their tariff so steeply. It is important to note that, Reliance Jio has made a net profit of Rs 20,607 crore in 2023 – 24 and Airtel has made a net profit of Rs 7,467 crore during the same period. Hence, such a steep tariff hike, which will hurt the common people, is totally unwarranted.” 

BSNL lost 18 million customers in the fiscal year 2024, and additionally this year in March 2024 they lost 2.3 million customers alone. On the other hand, Jio and Airtel both gained customers in March 2024, alone 2.14 million and 1.76 million respectively. 

They continued in the letter saying, “BSNL is barred from procuring standard 4G equipment from global vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, at par with Reliance Jio and Airtel. Instead, BSNL is compelled to procure its 4G equipment from Indigenous equipment manufacturers, which has greatly delayed BSNL’s 4G, as well as 5G service launchings.” 

So, the union has requested that “We would like to earnestly appeal to you sir, that necessary steps may kindly be taken expeditiously to ensure BSNL’s 4G launching without delay. Further, timely upgradation of this 4G service into 5G service, would enable BSNL to protect the interests of the common people of this country from the tariff hikes of profit-hungry private telecom service providers.” 

Even if now the government does take steps to save BSNL, what made them not do it years ago?  

When BSNL is the only state-run telecom enterprise then it should have been the government’s priority, instead, it has always been Reliance Jio, the private telecom sector.  

BSNL’s profit does go to the government, then what could possibly be the reason for such ignorance towards them?  

It is safe to say that this government singlehandedly crippled the only state-run telecom sector that never took advantage of people. Still, BSNL is thinking for the common people. 

BSNL is living proof of why people are losing faith in any government-run sectors or any ‘State Enterprises’. 

In this situation, it is a reasonable question whether, is the government planning on handing over BSNL to the private sector.