Indian tech companies have submitted bids to participate in state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s proof of concept (POC) exercise to test indigenously developed 4G core and radio equipment and solutions.
A report in Economic Times said that HFCL, ITI Limited, Tech Mahindra, L&T, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Galore Networks have submitted Express of Interest (EoI) for state-run BSNL's phase nine tender for 57,000 4G sites nationally.
The exercise will help BSNL determine the eligibility of these vendors for its nationwide 4G network tender.
According to the report, state-run ITI and Tata Group’s TCS partnered with state-run C-DoT for core technology and Tejas Networks for radio or RAN equipment. The report said that ITI and TCS have also submitted a separate bid to test their own network technologies.
BSNL will soon finalise and issue a letter of intent (LoI) to qualified bidders, who will kick off the PoC exercise in several Indian cities to test their technology.
India launched 4G services way back in 2016 and barring BSNL, all the service providers have been offering 4G for several years now.
The recent approval by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to conduct 5G trials has put the spotlight on BSNL, which is still struggling to build a 4G network.
