State-owned telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is reportedly planning to build five new data centers across India as part of its network expansion strategy, with one confirmed facility in Guwahati, the capital of the Northeastern state of Assam.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma disclosed the project at an event recently, according to a media report. He said construction had already begun at the Guwahati site, located in an IT park near Borjhar Airport. “These facilities will create substantial local employment, enabling Assam’s educated youth to work within the state instead of moving to cities like Bengaluru,” Sarma said.
The new facilities will support BSNL’s nationwide 4G rollout, which is being deployed using indigenously developed equipment, and are expected to underpin future upgrades to 5G. BSNL started rolling out 4G network much after the launch of 4G services by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, India’s top two telecom service providers.
This was mainly because the Government mandated the use of an indigenously developed 4G stack to boost domestic telecom manufacturing as well as acquire new capabilities. This was developed in collaboration between Tejas Networks (acquired by Tata Group), Tata Consultancy Services and C-DoT, which was launched recently as Bharat Telecom Stack. It is possible that after deploying the solution at scale, the consortium of Tejas Networks, TCS and C-DoT will sell the 4G stack in other countries.
The telco has also expressed ambitions to target 6G by 2030, though global deployment of the next-generation standard is still years away. BSNL began 5G trials last year.
Sarma also highlighted Assam’s growing digital infrastructure ecosystem, citing the establishment of a 5G lab at Gauhati University and the Tata Group’s semiconductor plant in Jagiroad. “From data centers to chip manufacturing, Assam is emerging as a nerve centre of India’s technology growth,” he said.
The locations of BSNL’s four other planned data centers have not been revealed. However, the operator controls more than 10,000 acres of land nationwide and has reportedly been in talks with data center operators to lease out parts of its estate for digital infrastructure projects. BSNL has been struggling financially as the subscribers move from its network because of delay in launching 4G and 5G services. In this context, the data center deals for monetization of its land assets are crucial for the service provider.
