People who have put their trust in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for the rollout of 4G services might be a little bit disappointed since the state-owned telco has said that the launch of 4G in the twin cities- Hyderabad & Secunderabad will only happen in the March of 2019. However, the rest of Telangana is likely to receive the rollout of 4G services early, in this year itself. BSNL Chief General Manager of Telangana State Telecom Circle V. Sundar said that BSNL is already testing its equipment in Wyra (Khammam) and Jadcherla (Mahabubnagar). Mr Sundar said at a press conference at the Doorsanchar Bhavan held on Wednesday “It will cost up to Rs 300 crore for introducing 4G services in the capital and we have already requisitioned the head office about the project requirements. We are spending Rs 120 crore for the services in rest of the State and the equipment is already in place.”
In the districts, 200 nodes will be installed by BSNL for the rollout of 4G services, whereas in Hyderabad and its environs, 409 nodes will be required for the services. BSNL is also not ignoring the expansion of its 2G and 3G infrastructure. It plans to install 186 towers in addition to the existing 1,100.
The state-owned telco will also set up 373 new state-of-the-art equipment will enable customers to experience enhanced voice and data speeds which will be under the expansion of the 2G network.
For 3G network expansion BSNL will be installing 688 new sites this year apart from 169 new sites which were added last year.
The CGM explained that even though the company has seen a decline in its annual revenue the market share of the agency has increased from 11.63% to 11.83%. The annual revenue which was Rs 2,400 crore in the previous year has now come down to Rs 2,115 crore in the year 2017-18.
The state-owned telco explained that this decline has been because of the introduction of new competitively priced plans in the market. To counter the competition BSNL has also launched some new attractive plans, the latest one being ‘Patanjali BSNL plan’ which is a special enterprise pack for the group which bundles 2GB data, unlimited calling and 100 SMSs for vouchers of Rs 144, Rs 792 and Rs 1,584.
There are also plans like ‘Ananth 105 & Plus - 328’ which bundles unlimited calls for 26 days and 90 days, respectively, for the validity of 180 days. These plans are valid in every circle except in Delhi and Mumbai. There are also festival based offers from BSNL, one of them being ‘Eid-Mubarak 786’ which is valid up to June 26 and offers unlimited calls, 2GB and 100 messages with a validity of 150 days.
BSNL is also set to improve and expand its operations in the home service sector by expanding broadband services. In addition to the 170 sites in rural areas, 300 more are to be availed to the public in the urban regions and 71 in urban/tourist places. Some new broadband plans by the telco include ‘BSNL family plan BBG Combo ULD 1199’ which bundles unlimited net, free landline, etc.
