BSNL lines up Rs 1300cr for Tamil Nadu

To add more towers, new equipment across the state.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is planning to invest around Rs 1,300 crore for procuring new equipment and setting up towers across the state in the next two years. Of the proposed investment, the Tamil Nadu circle would put in Rs 1005.32 crore while the Chennai circle Rs 300 crore.

Speaking to Business Standard, MP Velusamy, chief general manager, Chennai Telephones, said the investment by the Chennai circle would go into installing 1,010 towers in the next one year, which would enable BSNL to add 700,000 mobile connections. The circle currently has 810 towers with 1 million connections. The existing towers can support an additional 300,000 connections.

The Chennai circle, which comprises the Chennai city, Tirvallur and Kanchipuram, registered a net profit of Rs 220 crore last year. The rest come under the TN circle.

On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu circle, which currently has 2,480 cell towers, would add another 600 by the year end. The proposed investment would be around Rs 160.32 crore and the additional capacity would support 1 million new mobile connections, said G Varadharajan, chief general manager – Tamil Nadu Circle, BSNL.

There are about 2.5 million mobile connections in the state.

The TN circle is also planing to invest around Rs 845 crore for installing GSM equipment in the next one year, said Varadharajan. BSNL would purchase the instruments from companies like Norton, Motorola and Siemens.

Meanwhile, the company on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chennai-based UniverCell, a mobile retail network, for selling BSNL’s post paid and pre-paid connections and top-ups. This is for the first time both the circles have signed an MoU for direct selling through UniverCell retail showrooms across the state.

UniverCell has around 100 showrooms in the state, according to its chief executive officer V Rajagopalan.