State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) received the government’s approval for a Rs 26,821 crore order to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for 4G equipment. The matter will now be placed before the Group of Ministers (GoM) for final approval.

• Following the deal, the IT services provider will set up BSNL’s 4G sites and maintain its network for nine years.
• As per reports, the telecom operator is soon to give a purchase order to TCS for its 100,000 sites. While private telecom operators are updating their network to 5G, BSNL is still using 2G and 3G networks.
• BSNL is expected to start its 4G services by early next year and it will deploy 5G network simultaneously. A unit of Tata Sons, Tejas Networks, will manufacture the network radio equipment for BSNL.
• The telco recently received a whopping Rs 1.64 lakh crore bailout package from the government.