As per latest data from TRAI, BSNL has been pushed to third spot in Kerala circle by Vodafone which has become the second largest mobile operator in the state. BSNL has lost over 5 lakhs subscribers in the month of December and continued its free fall into January 2015.
Wireless subscriber base(lakhs) in Kerala
The huge fall in subscriber base of BSNL was mainly due to deactivation of inactive users from its network. While BSNL registered a fall of 8% in subscriber base, most private operators registered 6% growth(except Reliance). This steady growth has helped Vodafone claim second spot with 71 lakhs subscribers in the state. Currently, Idea leads Kerala circle with 95 lakhs subscribers and BSNL were in second spot for long time until now.
Losing ground in most profitable circle
Last year BSNL had made a profit in only three territorial circles of Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, and Odisha, Rs 396.80 crore in Kerala, Rs 9.37 crore in J&K and Rs 5.16 crores in Odisha. So Kerala circle is very important for BSNL as it is the only circle which made a 3 digit profit.Even when MNP was launched BSNL saw influx of users from other networks. But recently, BSNL was having series of issues in the circle for the last few months. Which includes recent SIM shortage, problems after migrating to new Intelligent Network and towers offline during power outages due to battery issues? As per BSNL these issues, as are now resolved, but this issue has given a negative reputation for the PSU in the state.
Do you think BSNL can make a come back in Kerala Circle? What is BSNL lacking in Kerala circle there was a time when BSNL was much widely used in Kerala what has changed ? Do let us know via comments.
