BSNL 4G Service In High Revenue Earning Circles First: Report The reason for the development is said to be in order to arrest the subscriber churn and increase revenue
By Teena Jose
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Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) plans to provide 4G services in high-revenue earning circles first as the state-owned telecom operator gets closer to the commercial launch, according to a FE report.
The reason for the development is said to be in order to arrest the subscriber churn and increase revenue. Currently, among the 30 circles, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Punjab are reportedly some of the high revenue earning circles for BSNL.
"We are witnessing subscriber churn because of the absence of 4G services. The company will issue the purchase order for 100,000 tower sites to the TCS-led consortium in a week," BSNL CMD P K Purwar told FE.
It is also noted that as part of the pilot for 4G, BSNL has deployed 200 sites in three districts of Punjab – Ferozepur, Pathankot and Amritsar.
Earlier this month, BSNL prepared to issue a INR 24,500 crore purchase order for equipment for 100,000 4G sites after an empowered group of ministers approved the carrier's request to set up a 4G network.
Two senior government officials aware of the development reportedly said the network will be deployed by a consortium headed by Tata Consultancy Services, government owned C-DoT and Tata Group-owned Tejas Networks, in which the telecom provider is aiming to provide 4G services across India within 18 months.
Furthermore, the report added that While Kerala was the highest revenue generating circle for BSNL in FY23, it was among the nine circles with which saw a fall in revenue. BSNL's revenue from Kerala fell nearly 2% to `1,656 crore in FY23. Other circles which witnessed fall in revenue are Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, UP (West), Gujarat, Chennai and Telangana.
"We have maintained the overall revenue. In fact, it has grown. Yes, there are some circles in which we have witnessed weakness because of the absence of 4G. In about six months, there will be a greater focus on the mobile services segment once we start deploying the 4G networks," Purwar said.
