Highlights
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) despite all the help with the relief packages and marginally lower tariffs can't seem to catch up with the private players.
- BSNL has now rolled out close to one lakh 4G sites and almost all of them have already been commissioned.
- The ARPU (average revenue per user) of BSNL grew 42% YoY (year-on-year) to Rs 101 in the FY26.
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a government run telecom operator, despite all the help with the relief packages and marginally lower tariffs can’t seem to catch up with the private players. BSNL has now rolled out close to one lakh 4G sites and almost all of them have already been commissioned. The ARPU (average revenue per user) of BSNL grew 42% YoY (year-on-year) to Rs 101 in the FY26. While this is great improvement, that’s still a figure which is far behind the other private players.
Much recently, Jyotiraditya Scindia, union telecom minister of India and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, minister of state for communications, met with Robert J Ravi, chairman of BSNL and other executives from the telco to review operational metrics and overall performance of the operator.
While the growth looks impressive on the ARPU department for the last year, it is still not enough for the company to compete in the industry. If this was a private telecom operator, it wouldn’t be able to sustain. BSNL not only has the lowest ARPU in the industry, it also has the lowest subscriber count as well. BSNL needs to figure out a way to improve ARPU, and it won’t be with just indirect hikes only.
Every article you read here is the result of time, research, and effort. If you feel it adds value, you can support TelecomTalk.