BSNL, over a period of last two years, has set up about 10,000 WiFi hotspots. It targets to take this number to 1,00,000, including 25,000 in rural areas by 2019.
State-owned telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has invited bids to set up over 5,000 WiFi hotspots across four zones - Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Kolkata, West Bengal and Andaman &Nicobar, Assam and North East I and II zones.
BSNL will offer bandwidth while capital expenditure will be borne by the service providers/partners, according to a senior official from the company. The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of this month.
BSNL, over a period of last two years, has set up about 10,000 WiFi hotspots. It targets to take this number to 1,00,000, including 25,000 in rural areas by 2019.
Under the latest project, the plan is to set up and operate a WiFi network to provide high-speed broadband services and other telecom services on a revenue-sharing basis. The project seeks to cover areas that are not technically feasible and other upcoming areas in urban and rural areas. The access points, as well as WiFi equipments, will be set up, owned, operated and managed by the partner who will win the bid.
The telecom public sector unit (PSU) is already providing broadband services through a WiFi route in circles in the north zone circles, west zone and south zone (except Kerala) with empanelled partners. It will offer backhaul bandwidth free of cost till one point at the WiFi access location depending on the techno-commercial viability.
BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava had earlier told DNA Money that the company also plans to launch 4G mobile services in select circles on 2500 megahertz (MHz) with a partner on a revenue-sharing basis. BSNL will provide only bandwidth to technology service provider who will manage and operate 4G services.
The company which is reeling under losses has been exploring various ways to increase its revenues. And one of the major initiatives has been the tie-up with private players to roll out services which do not need any capital or operational expenditure by the telecom PSU. With a high competition in the mobile sector, BSNL has been focusing on its enterprise business and WiFi services to give a boost to its topline.
In February, BSNL announced that its subscribers with Android or iOS smartphones would be able to access the 44 million Wi-Fi hotspots in more than 100 countries including in international flights and rail systems with the upgraded version of My BSNL app.
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