Govt's ₹47,000 Crore Capex to Strengthen BSNL 4G, 5G Services

In another major step in the Indian telecom industry, the government has announced a 47,000-crore capital expenditure (capex) strategy which will support the 4G and 5G spectrum of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), upgrade of infrastructure and close the connectivity divide in the country. The move is in line with BSNL returning to profitability after 18 years, indicating resurgence in the competition in the public sector telecom sector.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) made announcement that the investment would centre on building new and enhancing the current capabilities of BSNL, modernizing of switching centres and transmission systems, enhancing last-mile connectivity, and upgrading service quality to both urban and rural subscribers.

“With a record Rs 25,000 crore capex last year and a fresh Rs 47,000 crore plan in place, India’s telecom growth story is getting stronger,” the DoT said.

BSNL had installed 100,000 mobile towers through consortium led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in a major infrastructure push last month along with Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), Tejas Networks, and ITI Limited.

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The next step that Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union Telecom Minister, took in a marathon 12-hour review meeting with all 32 BSNL CGMs was to make BSNL increase its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) by increasing customer satisfaction and enhancing its subscriber base.

BSNL announced 3rd and 4th quarter of FY25 profits of 262 crore and 280 crore respectively, and EBITDA increased by nearly 2x to 5400 crore. Telecom major has also signed an MoU with Ericsson India, Qualcomm Technologies, Cisco Systems, and Nokia Solutions to improve trainings on 5G, AI, ML, networking, and cybersecurity.