BSNL to Invest Rs 4300 Crore for Network Expansion in 2018–2019

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will invest about Rs 4300 crore to expand the network in 2018–2019, and another Rs 5000–6000 crore is likely to be utilized for government telecom projects. The investment of Rs 4300 crore earmarked for BSNL’s own expansion will primarily go into strengthening the mobile network, upgrading broadband infrastructure, and strengthening the core network. Rs 5000–6000 crore will be spent on the government projects like BharatNet, Network for Spectrum, the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North East, as well as boosting connectivity to Andaman with optical fiber network, and others.

Other government projects that BSNL is executing include providing bandwidth to Lakshadweep Islands, and connecting remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh.

The telco will look to install 12,000 mobile towers for 3G services and 10,000 for 4G services. This will have a provision for 100 percent expansion mapped to BSNL’s 4G services rollout and spectrum allocation.