Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. expanded voice-over-WiFi to four Rajasthan telecom circles on Monday, extending a Delhi pilot that showed roughly one-third of previously dropped indoor mobile calls completing when routed over fixed broadband backhaul.

VoWiFi lets compatible handsets place regular voice calls over a home or office Wi-Fi connection when cellular signal is weak, without forcing users onto over-the-top apps. For BSNL, which is still building 4G coverage in parts of western Rajasthan, the feature is a way to retain subscribers who would otherwise port out after moving to multi-storey homes in Jaipur and Jodhpur.

Pilot metrics

Internal telemetry from the August Delhi trial, described to InfoHandle by two circle officials, logged a 34% reduction in user-reported “call failed” tickets in multi-dwelling units. Average setup time for provisioning VoWiFi profiles fell below six minutes once users updated to the latest carrier settings bundle pushed over the air.

Rajasthan circles now live include Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and Kota, covering the state’s highest-density smartphone markets ahead of the tourist season. BSNL said it will monitor core network load because VoWiFi traffic still terminates on the mobile switching centre, not on an unregulated internet path.

Device and security questions

Only select Android and iOS builds currently enable BSNL VoWiFi; the operator published a compatibility list on its portal Monday. Cybersecurity teams insisted on SIM-bound authentication rather than username-password logins, mirroring standards the Cellular Operators Association of India recommended in its 2026 interoperability note.

Rival private operators already market VoWiFi in major metros; BSNL’s rollout is significant because it pairs with the government-owned fibre footprint under BharatNet in semi-urban panchayats. If Rajasthan metrics hold, officials said Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh circles could follow before Diwali.

What it means for users

Subscribers need a VoWiFi toggle in handset settings and a broadband connection with at least 1 Mbps upstream stability. Emergency calls still prefer cellular radio where available, a limitation regulators highlighted in consultation papers last year.

For Rajasthan households battling concrete-wall signal fade, the upgrade is practical rather than flashy: fewer missed calls from family abroad, without buying a separate app plan.

Several Rajasthan panchayats on BharatNet fibre now qualify for VoWiFi because backhaul latency tests passed in August, a milestone DOT officials highlighted in a weekly status note. Villages still on microwave backhaul remain ineligible until upgrades finish in Q4.

Handset manufacturers said they will push software updates to budget models sold through BSNL bundles, expanding the addressable base beyond flagship devices. Retailers in Jaipur reported customer questions about battery drain; engineers said VoWiFi idle mode draws less power than constantly searching for weak macro cells.

TRAI’s quality-of-service rules still measure cellular call drops separately from VoWiFi completions, so regulators may revise reporting templates if VoWiFi adoption grows materially this quarter.

Circle managers in Kota said they will run weekend camps at handset retail clusters to help elderly subscribers enable VoWiFi, a demographic that still generates disproportionate voice revenue for the operator. Training materials avoid jargon, walking users through Wi-Fi calling toggles on popular budget phones sold with BSNL SIM bundles.