Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) are close to finalising a $2 billion (Rs 16,000 crore) deal to deploy the state-run telco’s 4G network.

According to the two businesses, disagreements over price and other business issues have been resolved, allowing the Tata group-led consortium to become India’s first domestic provider of telecom network solutions in a market dominated by multinational corporations.

The network equipment for BSNL is anticipated to be produced locally by Tejas Networks, a division of Tata Sons, the organisation that also owns TCS.
There are 111 million wireless subscribers served by the state-run telco.

A core 4G solution and radio equipment are being developed by TCS in collaboration with the government-owned Center for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), a developer of telecommunications technology.

It wasn’t until press time that BSNL, TCS, and Tejas confirmed the deal’s worth.
A successful launch of BSNL’s 4G network might catapult India into the exclusive club of nations with sophisticated telecom network technology, which includes the US, Sweden, Finland, South Korea, and China. China’s Huawei, Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland’s Nokia, and Korea’s Samsung are some of the market leaders, with Samsung also emerging as a major player.

Analysts predict that the Indian group can compete for a piece of the $500 billion global telecom equipment market if it develops a local 5G network solution.

According to DD Mishra, senior director analyst at Gartner, once the 5G solution has been proven, it would also enable TCS and Tejas Networks to market their services to both domestic private telcos and international operators.

Due to worries about national security, the government has been pushing for self-reliance in the telecommunications industry recently. Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE have been prohibited from taking part in India’s 5G rollout as a result of the political and military standoff with China, while strict restrictions have been placed on others.

Loss-making Since 2019, BSNL has been preparing to deploy 4G services, but in 2020, it was compelled to cancel a tender because of onerous requirements for domestic enterprises. It was then instructed to solely use equipment from indigenous manufacturers.

The introduction of 4G services, according to the government, will be crucial to the ailing telco’s efforts to improve its ability to compete with private sector rivals like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel and to restart operations.

The most recent agreement follows the carrier’s Rs 1.64 lakh bailout package, which included a spectrum award, the introduction of 4G, and cash for operational and capital expenses, among other things.

In a Rs 200 crore proof of concept, BSNL has worked with TCS, Tejas, and C-DoT to test domestic 4G technology. Testing for the 5G stack is currently ongoing; it should be finished by the end of this year.

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