Why government-owned BSNL is dialling China's ZTE and Finland's Nokia

Government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is reportedly seeking assistance from Nokia and China's ZTE. According to a report in Economic Times, the companies are the network equipment suppliers for its existing 2G and 3G networks. So, BSNL is said to have dialled ZTE and Nokia to help integrate its 2G and 3G networks with its new, domestically developed 4G network, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to ETTelecom.

BSNL is looking for Nokia and ZTE's help in stabilising its outdoor 4G services by leveraging their core network expertise. The company is also expanding its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) capacity to handle increased network traffic. This "core parenting" approach is currently being piloted in a select number of network sites across BSNL's northern and western zones.

BSNL 4G is ‘made in India’
The core, or central brain, of BSNL's 4G network is indigenous, developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT). Radio equipment is being supplied by Tata group company Tejas Networks, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) acting as the system integrator.

C-DoT has previously conducted successful trials of its indigenous 4G core in BSNL's commercial network in Chandigarh and Ambala. Currently, services are being offered through a testbed core network. A regular core network, expected to be ready by May-June 2024, will provide redundancy and handle over 1 lakh sites, according to a C-DoT official.

While the core network is critical for establishing connectivity, authentication, and authorization for subscribers, some government officials acknowledge the challenges of integrating a newly developed system. They point out that established equipment suppliers have had 5-6 years to refine their 4G core technology, compared to C-DoT's two-year development cycle.

TCS ‘building’ BSNL’s 4G network
However, BSNL is making progress. New data centres for regular production cores are under construction across all four zones. Once operational, all Radio Access Network (RAN) sites will be connected to these new cores. Currently, 1,500 sites are functioning with the PoC testbed core, supporting 2 lakh concurrent users and 5 lakh unique customers, according to RK Bhatnagar, director general of Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE).

Bhatnagar expects regular core network issues to be resolved within a few weeks, paving the way for commercial service rollout in multiple regions. He also highlighted that customers are already transacting about 40 TB of data per day through the indigenous core network.

Last year, TCS secured a Rs 15,000 crore contract from BSNL under the Phase IX.2 program, based on the successful PoC trials in Ambala and Chandigarh. TCS, through its subsidiary Tejas Networks, is deploying the radio network.

Initial supply chain disruptions have been overcome, and TCS anticipates an aggressive 4G network rollout during the current fiscal year. According to BSNL's installation and commissioning report as of March 2024, TCS has commercially deployed 4,667 sites in the northern and western zones, while site surveys are still ongoing in the eastern and southern zones.