BSNL 4G tender cancellation: Atmanirbharta has a heavy price, do we want to pay it?

Just how much of a burden the government’s Atmanirbhar strategy is costing the state-owned BSNL is best seen from its various letters of protest following the government forcing it to cancel its 4G tender and, instead, buy more from local vendors. Its latest letter to the telecom ministry on ‘mapping of local capacities and competition in telecom products’ makes the larger point that since BSNL has to compete with private sector players in the market, its equipment cannot, in any way, be inferior to theirs and that it cannot, in any way, have a higher down-time or even be using unproven technology.