India · Technology
Where BSNL’s indigenous 4G rollout lagged in January 2026
In January 2026, BSNL had commissioned 95,511 of its first 100,000 planned indigenous 4G sites. The official state and territory table shows where equipment still awaited installation and where installed sites still awaited commissioning.
Sources checked
Awaiting installation
Shared scale · 0 sites to 886 sites
Installed, awaiting commissioning
Shared scale · 0 sites to 886 sites
The two gap components add to the difference between planned and commissioned.
The first order left two different backlogs
The ministry’s January annex counted 97,672 installations and 95,511 commissioned sites out of 100,000 planned. The figures leave 2,328 sites awaiting installation and 2,161 installed sites awaiting commissioning. The annex measures the indigenous equipment rollout and says it was upgrading existing sites at that point. Source 1
Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh had different gaps
Delhi had 886 planned sites awaiting installation and 118 installed sites awaiting commissioning. Arunachal Pradesh had only five left to install but 426 installed sites awaiting commissioning. Maharashtra had the largest combined gap at 1,005 sites. The two columns distinguish the remaining work. Source 1
The national snapshot improved in February
By 28 February the ministry counted 97,906 installed sites and 96,103 on air. Commissioned sites rose by 592 from the January snapshot. The February update provides a national total, so this table keeps every regional row on the same January date. Source 1 Source 2
Later orders and rural saturation have their own counts
BSNL reported an order for more than 26,300 additional 4G base station sites in August. In November the Department of Telecommunications separately counted 18,291 commissioned sites under its rural 4G Saturation Project. An equipment order, a network commissioning count and the distinct rural project measure different stages or programme scopes. Source 1 Source 3 Source 4