State owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is reportedly wokring on rolling out 4G services for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by March 2018. A total of 1,150 4G sites are set to be installed in the two neighbouring states. An official also confirmed that the tender process for both the states is completed.
BSNL Telangana Circle Chief, L Anantharam told reporters that the AP circle (Covering Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) has registered highest SIM activations in the South Circle. The total number of SIM activation in the AP Circle are 4,27,209 in the current financial year. BSNL is also reported to have earned Rs. 2,500 crores during 2016-17.
General Manager P Sudhakara Rao said, “For 4G project, tendering process has been completed and we have to receive guidelines from BSNL headquarters. The vendor has also been finalised. For BSNL 4G project, 10,000 4G sites have been planned pan India while for Telangana we are getting 550 sites and 600 in Andhra Pradesh. Hopefully before this financial year end we will launch 4G services in both the states,”.
WiFi services for the Telangana circle have been commissioned under the BSNL 4G Plus. These WiFi hotspots will be placed at important public places. Under Phase I, 63 locations including 11 Rural exchanges and 58 more locations are expected to be activated by August this year. 130 more sites are planned under Phase-II.
BSNL is also setting up India’s first MVNO Aerovoyce, in collaboration with Adpay. Also, WiFi hotspots in Hyderabad are being rolled out by BSNL, with affordable data packs. The state run telco is also focussing on Nationwide Hotspot networks for which it recently invited startups.
BSNL has also initiated re-verification of the existing SIM cards. This re-verification is being done as per Supreme Court guidelines.
