![]() ![]() However, the company is doing well in the wireline segment. In May 2022, the PSU lost around 5 lakh wireless customers. According to the information provided by the minister of state for communication Devusingh Chauhan, BSNL has lost around 2 crore subscribers in the past five years.Īs per the latest telecom regulator data, BSNL and MTNL together have a market share of only 10% in the wireless segment. And while after the ₹70,000 crore revival package in 2019, the telco turned EBITDA positive (operating profit) in 2020-21, it continues to lose its subscriber base. The state-owned telco has suffered a loss of ₹50,631 crore in the past five years. For any meaningful turnaround, only monetary support will not be enough, it also needs change in working culture and corporate structure matching industry standards,” added Tapse. “And while its competitors are talking about 5G, BSNL is yet to implement 4G technology. Tapse suggests that the government should focus on bringing in high-end technology and a team that can execute the plan of BSNL being a profit-making company. The telecom sector being a highly capital-intensive area, BSNL misses the aggressive strategies to get things executed. The last package was granted in FY2019 for ₹24,000 crore for 4G upgrade but unfortunately, not allotted due to BSNL technology upgradation delay. Moreover, this is not the first revival package by the government to support and transform the stressed telco into a financially viable, sustainable and vibrant player. Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research) of Mehta Equities believes that the assumption of making operational profits would be difficult in the competitive environment wherein Bharti and Jio are in a tug-of-war to gain market share. However, not everyone is convinced the package could make much of a difference. It will help the operator to be in a better position to attract price-sensitive yet data hungry consumers and offer services to areas not yet covered by private players,” says Paliwal of Counterpoint Research. “Capital infusion will aid its much-needed 4G launch and network expansion, which is important for its long-term survival. They believe BSNL can give competition to private telcos in areas such as fixed-broadband and even earn decent revenue in the enterprise segment from small and medium businesses and consumers in rural areas, but that might not be good enough. However, experts have a different take on it. We get ₹5,500 crore from wireline while ₹7000 crore from wireless,” said Puwar to support his optimism. “Out of the total ₹20,000 crore revenue, we annually get ₹3,000 crore from rural and rest of the ₹17,000 we get from urban and semi-urban areas. BSNL chairman Pravin Kumar Purwar also sounded optimistic about the company’s future growth. With the latest relief package, we expect BSNL to become net profitable in the next three-four years,” said telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while announcing the package. The package helped BSNL in becoming operationally profitable. “The 2019 relief package gave BSNL a lifeline. Also, the government believes the company will be in a position to give competition to the private and established telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. With this package, the government expects the state-owned telco to be a profitable entity in the next three years. The relief package will be utilized to de-stress the BSNL’s balance sheet, expand its fibre reach and improve the quality of the company’s services. To give a lifeline to the ailing telco, the government recently approved a ₹1.64 lakh crore package. ![]() And hopefully, BSNL’s 5G leap will not be as delayed as its 4G leap if revival plans work out successfully,” said Charu Paliwal, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research. Therefore, BSNL will soon have another technology cycle to catch up. “Other operators are on the verge of launching 5G services and are expected to have adequate coverage (at least in prime areas) in another 3-4 years. ![]() The loss-making BSNL’s 5G leap shouldn’t be delayed as happened with its 4G leap, they added. Telecom sector experts feel BSNL will have to quickly adopt 5G technology if it wants the ₹1.64-lakh-crore revival plans to be successfully executed. ![]()
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