Vodafone Concept (Vi) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) are discussing widening their current network- and infrastructure-sharing association, although the 2 telcos haven’t but formally disclosed the scope of any proposed pact.
Vi chief govt Abhijit Kishore and BSNL chairman and managing director A. Robert Jerard Ravi met not too long ago to debate deepening the businesses’ network-sharing ties, in response to a CNBC Awaaz report. The discussions are to cowl roaming entry and the sharing of telecom towers and optical-fibre infrastructure, with spectrum sharing additionally floated in earlier studies as a attainable space of cooperation.
Whereas some studies have characterised the talks as protecting all telecom circles, Vodafone Concept has not introduced a nationwide settlement, and any association at the moment into consideration is restricted to pick circles.
The 2 operators have already got a narrower intra-circle roaming association in Delhi and Mumbai, underneath which BSNL subscribers can entry Vi’s community on agreed industrial phrases. Individually, BSNL had leased round 1,441 towers to Vi as of April 2026, in response to Division of Telecommunications knowledge.
The push towards sharing has additionally surfaced on the coverage stage. Earlier this yr, the Division of Telecommunications instructed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Info Know-how that Vi and BSNL had begun talks on sharing towers, fibre and spectrum, as each operators deal with excessive capital prices and uneven community power throughout areas. The committee requested the DoT to arrange an in depth evaluation of an infrastructure-sharing plan, together with timelines and estimated financial savings, inside six months.
Any broader roaming association would require the operators to finalise industrial, technical and regulatory particulars, together with the service areas lined, community applied sciences concerned, traffic-settlement phrases and implementation timelines.
For Vi, an expanded however selective association might enhance protection or community economics in particular areas with out implying a nationwide reciprocal-access pact. For BSNL, it might provide focused entry to Vi’s community or create further revenue from infrastructure use. The eventual influence will rely upon the ultimate phrases, which haven’t been publicly launched.
CT Bureau
