BSNL Vizag's earnings marginally up

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)'s Visakhapatnam telecom district registered a marginal increase in its earnings in the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, as compared to the previous year's earning levels. This despite fewer connections and reduction in call tariff by about 65 per cent in STD and ISD.

Though BSNL Vizag added about 25,888 new landline connections during 2004-05, it lost about 25,100 old connections. The nigam's net new connections were below 800 in 2004-05, as compared to 4,000 net connections lost in 2003-04.

BSNL's revenues touched Rs 152 crore in the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, as compared to Rs 151 crore in 2003-04. Its profits stood at Rs 60 crore. "We expected around Rs 100 crore profits this year. But due to the decrease in call rates, our profits were limited to Rs 60 crore only," J Ganta, general manager, Vizag telecom district, BSNL, said.

In the Vizag circle, BSNL added about 37,000 new cell connections during 2004-05. It is setting up the main switching centre at Vizag at an investment of about Rs 10 crore to meet the increasing demand for cell connections. Apart from this, BSNL has also proposed to set up another 40 cell towers in this district at a cost of about Rs 25 crore during the current fiscal.

BSNL is planning to introduce broadband service here from May end. "Currently, we have 12,384 internet connections with SancharNet account and 4,647 accountless Internet (NetOne) connections. Within six months, we hope to get at least 5,000 broadband connections in this area," he said. In the current year, BSNL is planning to lay about 40 km optic fibre cable across Vizag city.