BSNL Gujarat revenue up 16% to Rs 2,350cr in FY04

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Gujarat Circle, has reported an increase in its revenue to Rs 2,350 crore as on March 31 this year compared with Rs 2,011 crore accrued in the year-ago period, an increase of Rs 339 crore inspite of a decrease in its STD tariff rates by over 75 per cent and loss of its landline subscriber base to private operators.

"BSNL Gujarat Circle has reported an increase in its revenue which reflects the loyalty of our customers," Ashok Kumar Bhandari, chief general manager, Gujarat Telecom Circle, BSNL, told Business Standard on Friday.

BSNL has a landline subscriber base of 27,33,337 as on May 31, which has been stagnant for the past one year.

However, a marginal growth in the subscriber base as been reported in the last few months, though the official refuse to divulge the figures.

The subscriber base of Reliance WLL services as on May 31 this year in Gujarat was 55,802 compared with 50,048 in April this year.

BSNL has a huge network in Gujarat comprising of over 3,200 digital exchanges providing STD facility on reliable media.

BSNL's contribution to the state's tele-density (including mobile and WLL) is over six connections per 100 persons, which is one of the highest in the country. It has commissioned a total of around 1,23,250 WLL lines, of which 82,000 are in the urban sector and 41,250 are in the rural sector.

The BSNL network covers over 146 cities and towns in the state, over 5,000 km of highways, Mumbai-Ahmedabad railway route, 121 talukas, all district headquarters and three union territories.

Even the pilgrim and tourist places such as Dwarka, Somnath, Palithana, Dakor, Shamlaji, Ambaji and Saputara among others are covered.

On growth plans, Bhandari said, "BSNL has chalked out an expansion plan for the current financial year, which includes addition of over 13.9 lakh lines in a phased manner.

It will add a capacity of 3.5 lakh lines in the first phase by July, while the additional capacity expansion of 10.4 lakh lines will be done in the second phase by the end of the year."

Under the first phase, capacity expansion will cover all existing cities and an additional 118 towns including 59 talukas.

Over 400 mobile towers will be added, and BSNL will introduce a new mobile centre in Ahmedabad.

It also plans to introduce advanced features such as general packet radio service (GPRS) for higher data transfer speed, multi media messaging (MMS) for picture messaging and enhanced data rate generation (EDGE) for high speed data transfer among others.