Parliament Question: BSNL Revival Roadmap

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2999 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11TH MARCH, 2026 BSNL REVIVAL ROADMAP

2999. ADV GOWAAL KAGADA PADAVI:

SHRI VISHALDADA PRAKASHBAPU PATIL:

MS. PRANITI SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has prepared a time-bound and outcome-based revival roadmap for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and if so, the details thereof including financial targets, subscriber growth projections and service quality benchmarks;

(b) the details of total financial support, equity infusion, debt restructuring and spectrum support

provided to BSNL since 2014, year-wise and the measurable outcomes achieved in terms of revenue, market share and network capacity;

(c) the details of spectrum allocated to BSNL for 4G and 5G services, including band, quantum, valuation methodology and rollout timelines;

(d) the number of mobile towers installed since 2014 and proposed to be installed over the next three years, State and district-wise particularly in Maharashtra; and

(e) the steps taken to ensure that strengthening BSNL translates into affordable and accessible broadband and mobile services particularly in rural and remote areas and the targets fixed in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) to (c) With a view to strengthen BSNL and to make it robust, competitive and viable, Government has approved three revival packages to BSNL amounting to approx. Rs. 3.22 Lakh crores. These packages cover capital infusion, debt restructuring, viability gap funding for rural telephony, and the provision of 4G/5G spectrum, among other measures.

The Government has administratively assigned spectrum to BSNL in frequency bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2500 MHz and 3300 MHz at auction-determined prices for providing 4G and 5G services.

As a result of the revival packages given to BSNL, BSNL has started earning operating profits from F.Y. 2020-21.

1(d) BSNL has added 13,748 number of 2G BTS, 39,722 number of 3G BTS (NodeB) and 1,03,305 number of 4G BTS (eNodeB) since 2014. District-wise details of BSNL mobile towers in Maharashtra is attached at Annexure-I.

(e) To strengthening the telecom services, BSNL is rolling out one lakh indigenously developed 4G sites for pan India deployment. As on 28.02.2026, total 97,906 4G sites have been installed and 96,103 4G sites are ON-Air.

Further, Amended Bharatnet program has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 04.08.2023 with an outlay of Rs. 1.39 Lakh Crores to extend fiber to all Gram Panchayats and villages on demand basis, including provisions for 1.5 Crores high speed FTTH broadband connections in rural areas.

BSNL is the Project Management Agency for this scheme.

To further expand the network coverage in Border and remote areas, the Government is implementing various schemes such as 4G Saturation Scheme, Border Out Post (BOP)/Border Intelligence Post (BIP) etc. The details of these schemes are available on https://usof.gov.in.

2Annexure-I of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2999 for 11.03.2026 District-wise details of BSNL mobile towers installed in Maharashtra since 2014.

District/SSA No. of Towers installed Ahmadnagar 220 Akola 100 Amrawati 147 Aurangabad 105 Beed 90 Bhandara 105 Buldhana 75 Chandrapur 187 Dhule 184 Gadchiroli 266 Goa 96 Jalgaon 168 Jalna 45 Kalyan 266 Kolhapur 157 Latur 219 Nagpur 274 Nanded 97 Nasik 228 Osmanabad 52 Parbhani 41 Pune 252 Raigad 159 Ratnagiri 248 Sangli 58 Satara 149 Sindhudurg 220 Solapur 90 Wardha 59 Yeotmal 74 ***** 3