Under this order, HFCL will provide products and services to BSNL to support 4G and 5G network requirements

Indian telecom gear company HFCL has secured anworth INR 1.79 billion ($21.55 million) from state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to supply 4G and 5G network equipment, the company said.

Under this order, HFCL will provide products and services to BSNL to support 4G and 5G network requirements. The scope under thisencompasses initial planning, on-site surveys, supply installation, testing, commissioning, operations and annual maintenance of microwave links, the company said.

“With a strategic ‘Make in India’ approach, our cutting-edge 4G and 5G backhauling solution emphasizes capturing opportunities in global markets while aligning with the India Stack initiative. The deployment of these advanced solutions promises higher data transfer rates, low latency and enhanced reliability and performance,” HFCL’s Managing Director Mahendra Nahata said.

As part of the order, HFCL will supply indigenously designed and developed unlicensed band radios (UBRs) in the 5 GHz frequency band with 1 Gbps capacity.

Last month, HFCL signed a deal worth INR 11.2 billion with BSNL to upgrade its optical transport network (OTN) across India. The vendor noted that the deal covers design, planning of architecture, engineering, supply, installation and commissioning and system integration of OTN equipment. The upgrade project will cover over 300 large network nodes and 2,000 amplifier sites across the country, HFCL said.

HFCL also said it will also partner with Finnish vendor Nokia to deploy the OTN gear over the next 18 months.

BSNL previously said it was planning to launch its 4G service in December 2023 on a limited scale and then roll it out across the country by June 2024.

The telco’s rollout plans had been announced by BSNL chairman and managing director P. K. Purwar at the India Mobile Congress 2023.

Purwar also said that the company plans to upgrade its 4G service to 5G after June 2024. As of today, local carriers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm are the sole operators in India offering 5G services.

“Our target is to complete the 4G rollout by June 2024. After June, we will be moving to 5G services,” Purwar added.

IT company TCS and government-owned ITI have secured orders from BSNL for the deployment of the telco’s 4G network infrastructure. According to previous reports, the Indian government had said that only Indian telecoms vendors will be allowed to supply equipment for state-run telcos BSNL and MTNL’s 4G and 5G projects, as part of the country’s efforts to reduce dependence on international providers.

U.S. company CommScope recently said it is currently in talks with BSNL to potentially secure telecoms contracts with the company, according to Indian press reports.