State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is set to deploy an additional 1 lakh mobile towers to expand its commercial 4G services across India, following the successful installation of the first 1 lakh towers earlier this month.
Union Minister of State for Communications, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, confirmed in a recent interview that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will soon seek Cabinet approval for the next phase of BSNL’s 4G rollout.
“After successfully installing 100,000 towers with optimal 4G equipment, we will approach the Cabinet and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to approve another 100,000 towers,” said Pemmasani. To support this expansion, the Centre is reportedly planning to enhance BSNL’s cash flow and may monetize some of its assets to fund further 4G and 5G equipment deployments.
The current 4G infrastructure was rolled out by a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium, which includes the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), Tejas Networks, and ITI Limited. Despite initial challenges with the indigenous equipment, the minister said that performance is expected to reach “near perfection” by July or August 2025.
BSNL recently posted a profit after tax (PAT) of ₹280 crore in Q4 FY25, up from ₹262 crore in the previous quarter, marking a significant turnaround driven by its nationwide 4G rollout and 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) initiatives. This compares to a net loss of ₹849 crore in the same quarter last year.
For the full fiscal year, BSNL narrowed its loss to ₹2,247 crore in FY25, a 58% reduction from the ₹5,370 crore loss in FY24. “The outlook for the coming year will continue to show strong top-line revenue growth alongside a steady decline in operating costs—both critical to sustained profitability,” BSNL said in its earnings statement.
Meanwhile, private telecom players Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have already launched full-scale 5G services, intensifying competition in the sector.
