BSNL Turnarounnd: Co making operating profit, added subscribers in last 3 months, says Scindia

Debt-laden BSNL, grappling with poor infrastructure, had posted losses for the past 12 years.

State-owned telecom giant BSNL has added subscribers every single month in the last quarter, with its subscriber base growing by 50-60 lakhs as it scripts a turnaround story after recording operating profit in the last two years, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Wednesday.

Speaking at Express Adda, he noted that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is offering telephone services in the remotest villages and that a network upgrade is improving its service. In June last year, the Union cabinet approved an ₹89,047 crore revival package for the loss-making state-owned telecom operator to deploy 4G and 5G services in a market dominated by private players. Debt-laden BSNL, grappling with poor infrastructure, had posted losses for the past 12 years.

“In terms of financials, yes, BSNL was bleeding. But in the last two years, we have had a positive EBITDA. So we are not in the red on EBITDA,” he said. While EBITDA is positive, its bottom line is still in the red. The minister did not specify when the company will be in the black. “Even today, it is only BSNL that is reaching the last village in our country in terms of telecom service,” he said. “I believe that BSNL has tremendous capabilities… My BSNL worker — my family — has tremendous potential, (it) just needs to be triggered.”

BSNL, he said, has been behind the curve as the firm chose the hard way of deploying homemade equipment for service upgrades. “It is very easy to take someone else’s equipment and set it up and carry your network. And I completely understand it, because your business is not to manufacture the equipment. Your business is to provide the service. (But) BSNL chose the hard route. It said – we’ll be atmanirbhar in our equipment; we will make Bhartiya equipment and on that we will provide 4G services to every single customer,” he explained. This was not an easy decision and certainly not an easy route. “It was a gamble. But let me dare say that the gamble has worked. Because today, domestic 4G is a proven technology. And moving from 4G to 5G is not going to be that difficult. Yes, we are catching up today, but we hope to lead tomorrow,” he said.

Scindia mentioned that MTNL’s operations have been taken over by BSNL and its loans guaranteed by the Government of India, so there is reason for concern about a default. “We need to be positive. Our PSUs are hitting Fortune 500 company standards. Our PSUs today are leading the world,” he said.

“BSNL has added subscribers in every single month over the last three months. I don’t want to take company names because I am not the minister of BSNL but Communications… but I am proud to say that subscribers have ported through MNP from other telcos to BSNL.” He went on to state, “Our subscriber base has grown, and not by 10,000-50,000 but close to 50-60 lakhs.” “BSNL is going to be at the forefront and not a follower in the days to come,” he added.