Govt lines up ₹47,000 crore capex plan to boost BSNL network: DoT

BSNL has spent ₹25,000 crore in the last year for installing 100,000 towers for 4G mobile services

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The government is ready with another ₹47,000 crore capex plan to boost BSNL's network, the Department of Telecom said on social media platform X on Thursday.

BSNL has spent ₹25,000 crore in the last year for installing 1 lakh towers for 4G mobile services. "We have another close to Rs 47,000 crore capex plan in place for BSNL. Meanwhile, BSNL has done its highest-ever capex of Rs 25,000 crore during last year," the DoT said, quoting Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

IT firm TCS and a C-DoT-led consortium had bagged the majority of the ₹25,000 crore project for the supply of telecom gear to BSNL. Scindia has asked state-run telecom firm BSNL to add customers and grow its mobile service business by 50 per cent over the next year.

During a review meeting with BSNL's circle and business unit heads last month, Scindia asked each unit to increase enterprise business by 25-30 per cent and fixed line business by a minimum of 15-20 per cent.

The minister has asked BSNL to increase its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) -- a key metric for a telecom company's growth -- by improving customer satisfaction and adding more subscribers. BSNL's APRU varies from circle to circle, ranging from around Rs 40 to over Rs 175 in others.

Reliance Jio posted an ARPU of Rs 208, while Airtel posted an ARPU of Rs 250 for the June quarter.