BSNL Plans Up To 60,000 More 4G Towers; The Internet Reacts With 'Stone Age' Jokes

State-run BSNL plans to add 50,000 to 60,000 more 4G towers, taking its network beyond the roughly 1 lakh it already has, according to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Social media users have greeted the news with jokes casting BSNL's staff as Stone Age holdovers while rivals and other countries talk about 6G. The joke is easy to make, but the numbers behind it are less simple.

The plan

"98,000 towers to be exact are pretty much done," Scindia said in March. "We are trying to expand that to another 50,000-60,000 towers." The towers run on an indigenous 4G stack, with core technology from C-DOT, radio equipment from Tejas Networks and system integration by TCS. The target is smaller towns and remote villages. Scindia has said the network can move to 5G later, once 4G stabilises.

How big is the gap

A report published this week, citing a Department of Telecommunications official, says BSNL needs at least 3.5 lakh 4G towers for proper coverage. It has installed about a lakh, ordered another 25,000 and plans 50,000 more, and is preparing to seek Rs. 75,000 crore from the Finance Ministry for expansion and 5G. BSNL has also received revival packages worth a combined Rs. 3.29 lakh crore since 2019, according to the same report.

The Rs. 51 offer

BSNL is also pushing a Rs. 51 "Smart Start" prepaid plan for new customers, with a free SIM, unlimited calls, 2GB of data a day and 100 SMS a day for 28 days. The offer is available to new customers until October 31, 2026. It has been extended more than once, having originally run until June 30 and then August 31, according to TelecomTalk.

The Stone Age jokes

Social media users have joined the plan and the cheap offer into a familiar punchline: BSNL's employees must live in the Stone Age if the company is still building 4G. The jokes follow the pattern of earlier BSNL memes, from slow connections to the "BSNL 6G" quips that recur whenever the operator is in the news.

What the jokes miss

The 4G rollout is not an old technology purchase. It is India's own 4G stack, which joined a small group of nations that have built one, and which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated last September. Scindia has said the government is already working on 6G and is aiming for India to lead there.

As for other countries, 6G is still in the standards stage, with commercial networks widely expected around 2030. There is no 7G standard. Jio and Airtel have offered 5G since 2022, so BSNL is behind private rivals but not behind the world's 6G.

Published on: Friday, October 30, 2026, 04:18 PM IST