Chennai,:
In a bid to bridge the digital divide in rural areas, Bharat sanchar Nigam Limited is planning to roll out 4G services in rural areas by getting airwaves in 700 MHZ spectrum.
Addressing reporters here on Saturday, Bharat Sanchal Nigam Limited (BSNL) Chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said that talks are on with the government in this regard.
He said BSNL has written to the government seeking 5MHZ block on 700 MHz band through equity route. “We are seeking financial support from the government in this regard,” he said.
He was reacting to the need for additional spectrum to reach out to entire country following the digital initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The premium radiowaves in 700MHZ was up for auction earlier this year but did not attract any players due to its high cost.
Interestingly, BSNL had been avoiding 4G as through SWOT analysis it found that it does not have the right kind of spectrum to roll out 4G.
The idea to meet the competition of 4G services provided by other operators is to have wifi hotspots in the country. “We are planning 40,000 thousand of them. They are 4G hotspots,” he said.
He also said BSNL has got 2,500MHZ spectrum from Union government and is seeking expression of Interest from private operators to join hands with us.
Meanwhile, BSNL took on the competition from Reliance JIO by offering unlimited free call facility at a cost of Rs 144.
This comes in the wake of Reliance Jio offering Rs 149 entry plan in India. Shrivastava said that the plan is valid for six months and will offer unlimited local and STD calls to any network for a period of one month and it would come with 300 mega byte data.
To a query on BSNL hiving off tower business into a separate subsidiary to save off 8pc of the earnings which is spent as licence fee, he said that the issue is who will have the control over the company. “We want BSNL to have entire control over the subsidiary. Talks are on,” he added.
In a bid to bridge the digital divide in rural areas, Bharat sanchar Nigam Limited is planning to roll out 4G services in rural areas by getting airwaves in 700 MHZ spectrum.
Addressing reporters here on Saturday, Bharat Sanchal Nigam Limited (BSNL) Chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said that talks are on with the government in this regard.
He said BSNL has written to the government seeking 5MHZ block on 700 MHz band through equity route. “We are seeking financial support from the government in this regard,” he said.
He was reacting to the need for additional spectrum to reach out to entire country following the digital initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The premium radiowaves in 700MHZ was up for auction earlier this year but did not attract any players due to its high cost.
Interestingly, BSNL had been avoiding 4G as through SWOT analysis it found that it does not have the right kind of spectrum to roll out 4G.
The idea to meet the competition of 4G services provided by other operators is to have wifi hotspots in the country. “We are planning 40,000 thousand of them. They are 4G hotspots,” he said.
He also said BSNL has got 2,500MHZ spectrum from Union government and is seeking expression of Interest from private operators to join hands with us.
Meanwhile, BSNL took on the competition from Reliance JIO by offering unlimited free call facility at a cost of Rs 144.
This comes in the wake of Reliance Jio offering Rs 149 entry plan in India. Shrivastava said that the plan is valid for six months and will offer unlimited local and STD calls to any network for a period of one month and it would come with 300 mega byte data.
To a query on BSNL hiving off tower business into a separate subsidiary to save off 8pc of the earnings which is spent as licence fee, he said that the issue is who will have the control over the company. “We want BSNL to have entire control over the subsidiary. Talks are on,” he added.
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