NEW DELHI: State-owned BSNL will be launching 4G services in India shortly and will introduce VoLTE in FY 17-18, according to a report by Ultra News.
The report quoted Anumpan Shrivastava saying, “BSNL is launching 4G mobile services shortly and during the financial year 17-18 BSNL will introduce VoLTE.”Shrivastava further said that the telco is already matching tariff by tariff, plan by plan with the private telcos.
However, the telco does not have 4G spectrum in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata.Also, In July-end Shrivastava had said that the company expects to get the government’s approval soon for using airwaves in 700 MHz band for offering 4G services, and 5G services in the future. The company is also investing Rs 100 crore to strengthen its broadband network with a foolproof cybersecurity infrastructure.
Also, BSNL is in talks with private telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm for sharing its dark, or unused, optic fibre as part of its efforts to double its revenue from network sharing to about Rs 3,000 crore in 2017-18.