Editorial: BSNL’s moment of transformation

The launch of BSNL’s fully homegrown telecommunication stack for 4G services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being hailed as a transformative moment and a technology leap that puts India among a handful of select nations to have done this. Undoubtedly, it is a mammoth project involving the construction of nearly a lakh 4G mobile towers, which serve a staggering 2.2 crore customers. The Communication Minister claimed nearly 100% coverage by saying that “no part of India will be left untouched,” while the Prime Minister declared triumphantly the emergence of a “new avatar of BSNL”. The development of the Bharat Telecom Stack by a consortium comprising government entities such as BSNL and C-DOT, and private sector Tejas Networks and TCS, validates the public-private collaboration model in which the government provided funds and infrastructure while the private players brought in the technology.

A confluence of factors has led to the development of the indigenous telecom stack. In 2020, BSNL cancelled a multi-crore tender for upgrading its network to 4G at a time when India was having strained relations with China, a major telecom equipment maker, and global supply chain disruptions during the pandemic prompted the government to give “Make in India” a shot. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. There was initial scepticism about domestic capabilities to develop and deploy the technology at a national scale. Moreover, Indian companies lacked the experience of managing such large networks. Despite the odds, the Indian consortium managed to pull it off, but a parliamentary panel had found the public sector telecom giant was “at a competitive disadvantage” as it was relying on 2G and 3G networks while Jio and Airtel had captured market by upgrading to 4G and even 5G using telecom equipment and solutions from multinational vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung. The committee had rightly recommended a multi-pronged strategy of using foreign companies to expedite development, testing, and roll-out of the homegrown stack.

All this was possible as the Centre has been pumping in thousands of crores of taxpayers’ money for not only technology upgradation but also for revival and stabilisation of BSNL, which itself had raised nearly Rs. 13,000 crores by selling off the family silver in the name of asset monetisation. This sale and splurge is being sought to be justified by citing lofty objectives such as ensuring telecom and even digital sovereignty, gaining supply chain independence, protecting national security, achieving digital inclusion, and, of course, serving the poor and marginalised. There are plans to enter export markets, especially in the global South, and also target countries that are averse to European or Chinese telecom companies.

Many analysts have their doubts about BSNL’s financial sustainability, as its average revenue per user has been low and the user base is shrinking. If the government views it as an organisation that is critical for “strategic” reasons, then it will have no option but to keep infusing funds to keep it afloat. But if it views it as a commercial entity, and since the odds are against BSNL in the highly competitive telecom market, the government may eventually end up handing it over on a silver platter to a friendly conglomerate. As is being alleged about ethanol-blended petrol, the pursuit of exalted and idealistic national objectives with public funds could be inextricably intertwined with private profit.