Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run Indian telecom operator, has been losing Wi-Fi customers for years. Once hailed as the king of the fixed broadband industry, BSNL has receded in the ranks against the likes of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. BSNL's total Wi-Fi users stood at 4,06,600 for the financial year ending March 31, 2024, shared Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on November 27, 2024.
This figure was 10,92,650 for the financial year ending March 31, 2020. So in four years, BSNL has lost a significant number of customers. Note that as per TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) data, the total wired broadband customer count for BSNL was 4.23 million at the end of September 30, 2024. However, at the end of September 30, 2023, BSNL had 3.71 million wired broadband customers, thus indicating a rise in numbers during the current year. Yes, the numbers here look a tad bit confusing, regardless, these numbers were shared by the government.
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In the wireline subscriber segment, BSNL had 16.61% of the market share along with MTNL's 5.61% share. On the contrary, Jio had a 40.61% market share and Airtel had a 25.24% share. It is no surprise to anyone that BSNL has been losing wired broadband subscribers' market share to the private telcos who have aggressively laid out optical cable fiber (OFC) and reached more homes with their fixed-broadband services.
BSNL offers competitive broadband plans and bundles of OTT (over-the-top) benefits like private telcos. Regardless, the state-run telco has been losing its edge in the wireline segment, and that too when its services are present PAN-India. BSNL saw the number of Wi-Fi customers growing from 2016 (the year when Jio came to the market) till 2020, and since then, the telecom operator has been losing wired broadband customers.
