Based on a senior official at telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), the company has issued advance purchase orders (APOs) totaling 15,700 crore to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and ITI Ltd for 100,000 4G sites.

According to the executive, who asked not to be identified, the state-run ITI will deploy one-fifth of these 4G stations. ITI has a 20% stake in BSNL's next-generation network deployment.

"The telco will also issue circle-wise purchase orders to procure the equipment," said the CEO. On May 19, the APOs were issued.

BSNL's large-scale 4G rollout coincides with the launch of 5G services in the country by private sector telecom providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) had previously approved the deployment of 100,000 sites for the expansion of the BSNL's 4G network by the TCS-led consortium, which also included the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and Tejas Networks, on May 8. TCS, based in Mumbai, owns a majority share in Tejas Networks, situated in Bengaluru.

"We have identified the majority of the locations where 4G network equipment will be installed." "The remaining sites will be identified soon," added the BSNL CEO.

Following a proof of concept (PoC), the TCS-led consortium submitted a bid last year to build a four-zone 4G network for BSNL.

Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw previously stated that BSNL is targeting a rapid rollout of 5G-based telecom sites by August, and that live testing is currently taking place with real consumers in a physical setting.

The indigenous telecom stack for the BSNL 4G network was tested for 10 million simultaneous mobile phone calls in December 2022.

BSNL officials previously stated that the business anticipated a 20% increase in income with the widespread deployment of its 4G services.