Jyotiraditya Scindia's BIG announcement, claims BSNL set for recovery, 5G launch expected by...

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday announced that state-owned telecom company BSNL is making significant progress toward financial recovery and will move towards launching 5G services by mid-2025. Speaking about BSNL's revival, Scindia highlighted the importance of having multiple telecom operators in India. 

He stated that BSNL is now becoming financially sustainable, with its revenue growing by 12% over the past 3-4 years to Rs 21,000 crore. At the same time, the company has reduced its expenditure by 2%. 

Notably, BSNL has been EBITDA positive since 2021, with its operating profit doubling from Rs 1,100 crore in 2021 to Rs 2,300 crore now, according to reports.

The minister shared BSNL's ambitious plans to install 1 lakh towers by May or June 2025. "We have built our own 4G core through state-owned C-DOT and RAN (radio access network) through Tejas, owned by the Tata Group. TCS is the systems integrator, making this a fully integrated 'Bharat solution'," Scindia said. He noted that India is now one of only five countries globally to have its own 4G hardware and technology stack, with 62,000 towers already rolled out.

Once the target of 1 lakh towers is achieved, BSNL will begin upgrading some of them to 5G. "BSNL is on its way to a complete turnaround," Scindia said.

Additionally, the minister urged telecom companies to take steps against spam and fraud on their networks while assuring the government remains vigilant in combating such activities.