Media Report (The Economics Times) : BSNL says deviations proposed by TCS for 4G network to jeopardize business, customer experience

The state-run telco reportedly said the deviations include a few critical issues that cannot be compromised for testing the equipment under Proof of Concept (PoC) or trials considering the same equipment will be commercially deployed for rolling out 4G services after the trials. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s 4G trials has hit yet another roadblock as a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium has proposed 128 deviations in 4G equipment specifications, with the highest deviations proposed in radio network (71), Financial Express reported. Other specifications where TCS has reportedly proposed deviations include core (18), interworking (6), deferred core (13), and deferred radio (20).

BSNL, though said accepting these deviations could jeopardize its business prospects and customer experience. It has written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asking whether to accept the deviations or not. The state-run telco reportedly said the deviations include a few critical issues that cannot be compromised for testing the equipment under Proof of Concept (PoC) or trials considering the same equipment will be commercially deployed for rolling out 4G services after the trials.

“According to this office, acceptance of such deviations will cost BSNL in future once the rollout happens and it will not only jeopardise the interests of BSNL’s business prospects but also adversely impact the customer experience as well as BSNL’s competitive strength,” BSNL CMD Sh P K Purwar was quoted as saying by the publication.

It should be noted that ITI and TCS have submitted their bid with state-run C-DoT for core technology and Tejas Networks for radio, and will conduct trials at Chandigarh.

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