State-owned telephone operator BSNL is in advanced level talks with Reliance Jio and Vodafone for signing a 2G roaming agreement later this month. BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI, we are in advanced stages for signing 2G intra-circle roaming agreement with Reliance Jio and Vodafone. I believe agreement with them should be signed this month. Under the agreement, customers of Reliance Jio and Vodafone will get access to BSNL network where there is a coverage gap.
The state-run firm has deeply penetrated in the rural areas as other companies have invested very conservatively due to very low return on investments. Once the agreement is finalized, BSNL customers will also have access to the networks of Reliance Jio and Vodafone. As far as mobile base stations are concerned, BSNL stands second in the country. It has around 1.14 lakh mobile towers and is in process of installing another 21,000. Soon, we will start signing 3G intra-circle roaming agreement with other players. We are working on rates for 3G roaming agreement. Being a government firm, we need to have uniform rate for all companies, Shrivastava said.
The telecom ministry has objected to the 3G-ICR among the telecom operators mainly Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. These players acquired customers using each other’s network in telecom circles where they did not have 3G spectrum. The telecom tribunal TDSAT then upheld the agreement signed by the private telecom operators. Shrivastava said that under the 3G-ICR agreement, BSNL will follow law of the land. The public sector firm also reportedly held discussions with telecom major Bharti Airtel for spectrum sharing in two circles, namely, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
We had discussion with Airtel for spectrum sharing in three circles — 1,800, 900 and 2100 Mhz band. If talks are finalized, then we will liberalize spectrum in these circles, Shrivastava added. With liberalized spectrum, BSNL will be able to provide 4G service to its customers through the airwaves which it is currently using for 2G services.
