State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is set to launch 5G services in Delhi and Mumbai by December 2025, according to a senior official from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The official stated that all equipment for the indigenously developed network has been functioning smoothly during the testing phase and will soon be ready for commercial deployment.
“All the equipment is working fine without any issues; therefore, we estimate the commercial launch of 5G services in both cities by December 2025,” said the official. While private telecom service providers such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have already completed their nationwide 5G rollout, covering a significant portion of the population, BSNL is still in the early stages of providing commercial 4G services in select cities. This delay has led to a large number of customers migrating from BSNL to private telecom operators. According to the government, the delay is primarily attributed to its initiative to develop homegrown 4G technology. The government has signed a deal worth over ₹25,000 crore with the TCS-Tejas-C-DoT consortium to deploy one lakh 4G sites, all of which are upgradable to 5G. The supply of 4G equipment began in September 2023. The equipment being used is also a 5G convertible. So far, BSNL has rolled out 95000 4G towers in the entire country.
In August 2025, the DoT announced an additional ₹47,000 crore capital expenditure to further enhance BSNL’s network infrastructure. As of July 2025, two public sector telecom operators -- BSNL and MTNL—had a combined market share of just 7.79%, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
In August, BSNL had already announced the soft launch of the 4G network in the national capital. As per the company’s statement, the 4G services are available to users through a partner's network access arrangement.
"The Delhi soft launch is delivered as a 4G-as-a-service through a partner's network access arrangement that provides last-mile radio coverage on compatible 4G devices, with BSNL SIMs. This approach complements BSNL's nationwide 4G build under its indigenous rollout programme," the company said.
