 "Jyotiraditya Scindia")
State-run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has surpassed an operating profit of ₹5,000 crore in the current financial year, up from ₹2,300 crore in the previous year, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.
“This means that BSNL is generating cash flow now. In terms of the number of subscribers, we have gone from 8.7 crore to 9.1 crore. For the first time, there has been an increase in the number of subscribers. For 4G alone, we had 9,000 sites as of June last year. Today, we have 98,000 sites,” he said. Overall, BSNL is serving more than 22 million people across the country now, he added.
The government-owned telecom company has invested close to ₹25,000 crore in capital expansion, its highest ever till date, Scindia said. He was speaking to the media before the India-wide rollout of the telecom firm’s countrywide 4G network.
The rollout, which will be presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, will see the state-run telecom company join the likes of the three other private telecom companies that provide commercial 4G and 5G services in the country.
The launch of 4G, which will utilise a full-indigenously developed software and hardware stack, will position India alongside countries such as Sweden, South Korea, China, and Denmark, which have developed their full telecom stack within their own borders, he said.
On Saturday, the government will also roll out India's 100% 4G saturation network through Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), where close to 29,000 villages have been connected as part of the 4G saturation project and other DBN initiatives, Scindia said.
Speaking at the event, Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal said that DBN had been central to enhancing rural connectivity.
“India now stands at the cusp of a defining moment in global telecommunications. What seemed impossible just four years ago has now been made a reality through focused execution and unwavering commitment,” Mittal said.
On August 15, the public sector unit had announced a soft launch of its 4G services in the national capital telecom circle. The 4G-as-a-service for BSNL is currently being delivered to telecom company users through a partner’s network access arrangement that provides last-mile radio coverage on compatible 4G devices.
Earlier this year in July, Scindia had expressed hope that BSNL would report a healthy operating cash flow in the coming quarters on the back of strengthened 4G offerings and services. During a review meeting of BSNL, Scindia had also urged the firm to raise the weighted average revenue per user (Arpu) by at least 50 per cent and to grow the enterprise business by 25-30 per cent per strategic business unit over the next year.
The state-run telecom company had posted a net profit of ₹262 crore in the July–September quarter and ₹280 crore in the October–December quarter of 2024, its first back-to-back profitable quarters in 18 years.
