As Trai's tests flag weak signals, BSNL dials vendors TCS, Tejas for a fix
BSNL has flagged weak signals at thousands of its new 4G sites, leading to call drops and slower data even as it attempts a long-awaited turnaround. The operator has asked vendors TCS and Tejas to investigate and fix the issue, saying many towers are transmitting below required power levels.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has flagged weak transmission signals at thousands of its new 4G towers—an issue behind call drops and slower data speeds—at a time when the operator is attempting a long-awaited turnaround backed by the government's successive revival packages. The company last month asked vendors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tejas Networks, a Tata group company, to investigate and fix the problem, according to people familiar with the matter and a letter seen by Mint.
In response to Mint’s queries, TCS and Tejas said most of such issues have been fixed and there is no impact on the company’s key performance indicators (KPIs).
The issue assumes significance amid concerns over BSNL’s quality of services flagged by users. The drive tests by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in the last few months to check the network performance of telecom operators showed that BSNL’s network struggled with slower speeds and higher call drop rates in most of the regions, compared to private operators such as Jio and Airtel - that largely provided better speeds, low drop call rates, and reliable connections.
“The reduced Tx (transmit) power levels are causing a range of operational and customer-facing issues, including limited coverage footprint, latching difficulties for user equipment, poor signal quality and interference, reduced data throughput and access, higher call drop and handover failure rates etc," BSNL told TCS and Tejas in a letter dated 21 October.
In the letter, BSNL said the analysis at various tower sites reveals a concerning issue, which is “over 132,000 cells are currently transmitting power below 35 dBm (3.16 watts)". The company wants the signal level from towers to be set at 46 dBm (40 watts).
A cell is another word for a coverage area served by a single mobile tower. Every tower has multiple cells, each pointing in a different direction so that together they cover a full area. In electronics and telecom, watts specify how strong a signal is when a device (such as a mobile tower or Wi-Fi router) transmits.
“Call quality KPIs including drops are well within acceptable limits and on par with other networks. Network optimization to reduce call drops and improve coverage is an ongoing process for any mobile network and the same is the case in the BSNL network," the companies’ emailed statement said, adding that there are no issues of coverage or throughput in the vast majority of the over 94,000 operational sites.
Data consumption also crossed 4 petabytes (4 million GBs) on BSNL’s network, according to the statement.
“If the network was designed for 46 dBm and many sites are radiating only around 35 dBm — with others not radiating at all — it means the system is in serious distress. At 35 dBm the site emits barely 8% of the intended power, causing a collapse of both coverage and capacity," said Parag Kar, an independent telecom analyst.
Queries on the matter emailed to BSNL did not elicit any response till press time.
BSNL’s indigenous stack was developed by Tejas Networks and C-DOT, with TCS serving as system integrator. In 2022, as part of a revival package cleared by the Union Cabinet, the government had approved 100,000 4G tower sites for BSNL at a cost of ₹19,592 crore. BSNL spent ₹25,000 crore in FY25 to install these towers for 4G services. TCS and a C-DoT-led consortium had bagged the lion’s share of the ₹25,000-crore project to supply telecom gear to BSNL.
“The discrepancy (with some 4G sites) has been highlighted consistently by the circles to TCS. The same is leading to hardware faults, connectivity disruptions and suboptimal network performance," said a BSNL executive, on the condition of anonymity, adding that TCS and Tejas have been asked to reconfigure or replace all the affected cells so that the operator can deliver quality services.
The company has asked the two vendors to provide weekly progress reports on the issue.
“Even when one port radiates less than the configured power, there is virtually no impact observed in the network KPIs since the other port functions normally and provides the required coverage," TCS and Tejas said in the statement, adding that the number of cells that reported with lower power were very less.
After being in the testing phase for a long time, BSNL launched its 4G services on India-made technology on 26 September with over 92,000 towers. Of its total subscriber base of 91.7 million as of August end, the company served more than 20 million 4G users across the country.
The operator's actions come in the backdrop of the government's renewed push to turn it around. Low tariffs and availability of 4G services is helping BSNL to add subscribers in recent months. The company added 1.8 million users in the July-September quarter compared to 0.6 million it lost in the April-June quarter.
“Quality of service is non-negotiable," Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had told the circle heads of BSNL at a meeting last month. The minister said the company needs to measure its service quality on a daily basis and also ensure there is no negative Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) from any circle, even for a single day.
For the September quarter, BSNL reported a net loss of ₹1,357 crore, wider than ₹1,048 crore in the preceding quarter and the ₹1,241.7 crore it lost in the year-ago quarter, the company’s financial statements dated 14 November show. The higher losses can be attributed to an increase in depreciation and amortization expenses, network operating expenses and finance costs.
The company’s revenue from operations during the quarter rose 2.8% sequentially and 6.6% year-on-year to ₹5,166.7 crore largely led by increase in revenues from mobile phone services on the back of a launch of 4G services.
BSNL had 92.3 million mobile subscribers as at end-September, as against bigger private sector rivals Reliance Jio's 506 million, Bharti Airtel's 364 million and Vodafone Idea's 196.7 million. Data from Trai also showed BSNL had pipped Bharti Airtel in subscriber additions for two straight months—August and September. In July-September, the company added 1.8 million users, compared to 0.6 million it lost in April-June, Trai data showed.
Since 2019, the government has brought in three revival packages worth a total of ₹3.2 trillion to prop up the performance of BSNL and its public sector peer Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.
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