Aircel, BSNL sign pan India 2G intra-circle roaming pact

BSNL expects revenue of Rs 300-400 crore from ICR deals

State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has entered into an intra-circle roaming agreement with private operator Aircel for all circles. 

Besides reducing call drops, this deal is expected to improve quality of services to mobile subscribers along with better connectivity. 

"This is a first agreement between a state owned operator and a private telecom player. With this strategic tie up, both organizations will be able to enhance customer experience besides utilizing each other's assets and network strength," Aircel said in a statement Monday.

BSNL expects to earn Rs 300-400 crore a year through ICR arrangements starting this financial year.

The agreement will help Aircel widen its reach as BSNL has about 1.14 lakh mobile towers across country.

In ICR agreements, passive infrastructure such as base transceiver stations will be shared among the operators when a subscriber of an operator roams in that circle.

BSNL has second highest number of mobile towers in the country and also premium 900 Mhz spectrum that it is using for 2G services. With continued investment BSNL expects to have around 1,35,000 mobile towers, maximum owned by a company.

The state-run telecom firm is also in talks with other private telcos for ICR agreements to share its passive infrastructure. For ICR, BSNL has been talking to Telenor, Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Reliance Jio.

Along with spectrum sharing, revenue expectations will go much higher, its chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava had told Business Standard earlier.

BSNL has idle spectrum in many locations. "It (spectrum sharing and trading) will be a huge revenue potential for us," Shrivastava added.

BSNL, which recorded Rs 7,600 crore of loss for the previous financial year, expects to cuts its losses by Rs 1,000-1,500 crore for 2015-16.