The Department of Telecommunications said on Saturday, August 10 that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will soon launch 4G-5G ready universal SIM (USIM) and over-the-air (OTA). Users will be able to activate this SIM anywhere.
On the social media platform X, the Department of Telecommunications said – After the rollout of 4G and 5G services, users will be able to choose their mobile number and change SIM without geographic restrictions. BSNL has created this SIM in collaboration with Pyro Holdings Private Limited.
This SIM is part of BSNL’s revival plan
Universal 4G and 5G-ready SIM is part of BSNL’s revival plan, for which the Union Cabinet approved a package of Rs 89,047 crore in the third revival package last year.
This package included allocating 4G, 5G spectrum to BSNL through equity investment and increasing its authorized capital from ₹ 1,50,000 crore to ₹ 2,10,000 crore.
BSNL is struggling with debt crisis
Public sector telecom company BSNL has been struggling with debt crisis for some time now. The Government of India has supported the company through three revival packages so far.
In the year 2019, Rs 69,000 crore was approved in the first revival package, which brought stability to BSNL and MTNL. At the same time, in the year 2022, the second revival package of ₹ 1.64 lakh crore was approved. This package included strengthening the balance sheet and expanding the fiber network.
The company is far behind Airtel and Jio
PM Modi has launched the roadmap for 6G network. 6G service is expected to start in India by 2030. BSNL is lagging far behind in this matter. The company is preparing to launch 5G service along with 4G. In January 2023, Union IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had said that BSNL would start its 5G service by April 2024. At the same time, Airtel and Jio launched 5G service in India in October 2022.
BSNL was once the number one mobile operator
Former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched BSNL mobile service from Lucknow on 19 October 2002. Within just 1-2 years of its launch, it had become India’s number one mobile service. Private operators had started mobile services months before BSNL’s launch, but the demand for BSNL’s ‘CellOne’ brand had increased significantly.
When BSNL services were launched, private operators used to charge Rs 16 per minute for calls and Rs 8 per minute for incoming calls. BSNL made incoming calls free and the cost of outgoing calls came down to Rs 1.5. This period of 2002-2005 was the golden period of BSNL. Everyone wanted a BSNL SIM. For this, there were 3-7 kilometer long queues.
There are currently more than 116 crore mobile subscribers in the country
According to the February 2024 data of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which keeps track of telecom companies in India, 39,30,625 mobile subscribers increased across the country in February as compared to January 2024. While there were 116.07 crore mobile subscribers across the country in January, their number increased to 116.46 crore in February.
