The state-run public sector telecom major BSNL has announced that it is working on setting up 40,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots in the country to counteract its incompetence in rendering 4G data services. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) made this announcement on Monday which is a move to provide faster internet services. BSNL to gearing up to set 40000 Wi-Fi hotspots at 6 different locations in the country by March this year.

The announcement was officially made by the Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, Anupam Shrivastava on Monday in a meeting which was organised with all the state MPs. It is meeting which will be held for every 5 years in order to seek suggestions from the MPs of the state. At the meeting, the CMD of BSNL announced that the telecom company is planning to set up 40000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the country.

“We are at present neither a 4G service provider, nor do we have the relevant spectrum to launch this service. But to deal with this challenge, we are working on a scheme to set up 40,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots in the country, as it (Wi-Fi Hotspot) is faster than 4G services,” BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava told reporters.

BSNL to Set up 40000 Wi-Fi Hotspots

Anupam Shrivastava announced that, under the new scheme, 500 Wi-Fi Hotspots have been set up in the country, and the telecom company intends to expand them to 2,500 in the current financial year. He suggested that in an attempt to enhance its telecom service, the BSNL would be setting up about 25,000 mobile towers in the country, with an investment of Rs 5,500 crore.

At the end of the year 2015, probably in the month of November, the social media giant, Facebook has partnered with the state-run BSNL to set up 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in the rural areas in India which was a move to boost the Digital India initiative. Now, the telecom company alone initiated this scheme to set up 40000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the country.

Addressing the issue of call drops, the CMD of BSNL said that the problem is complicated due to people’s misunderstanding that the radiation emitted by the mobile towers has a detrimental impact on their health, due to which many such towers have been evacuated from residential locations.

Anupam Shrivastava further said that in FY15, the telecom company gained an operating profit of Rs 672 crore, and anticipates it to touch Rs 1000 crore by the end of the current financial year. He said, “We are not just satisfied by increasing our operating profit, but we are also working on taking the company to a net profit position. We expect to reach that position by FY19.”

Telecom operator BSNL will start setting up WiFi hotspots at prominent locations in the city including Khajrana Temple, Airport, Rajwada, MY hospital, C-21 Mall and 56 Dukan by March this year. The telecom company would be installing new 3G base transceiver station (BTS) towers in place of 40 existing BTS. To deal with the network problem, they are planning to set up 55 new BTS.

Shrivastava said, “Initially, Wi-Fi facility would be free but after sometime customers will have to pay.” 

During the meeting, Loksabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced the launch of seven Wi-Fi hotspots in selected areas that include Dodi Indore-Bhopal highway, Patlod village, Boat Club Bhopal, JP Hospital Bhopal, Fanda of Bhopal District, RGPV University and AIIMS Bhopal.