BSNL stays focused on improving revenues, talks to form partnerships for MVNO deals: Report

The state-run operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is on the path of recovery from the losses it reported in the earlier years. It employed various strategies, including job cuts, forming partnerships, or augmentation of its mobile networks to get back into the game.

  • Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
  • Source of Google
  • Source of Google

bsnl-mvno

In the latest development, BSNL is reportedly in talks with six to seven companies for mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deals. Two companies that held talks with BSNL are DataWind and Oxigen, reported Economic Times (ET). Both companies approached BSNL to resell its network-based voice and data services.

“We are formulating a uniform VNO framework that will allow transparent access on a non-exclusive basis so that any company can come and engage with us, and obtain voice minutes and data in bulk to resell it to their customers,” ET quoted BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava.

It is also in talks with MVNE (Enabler) and MVNA (Aggregator) companies — Plintron Global Technologies and XIUS — to deploy the necessary network and infrastructure for MVNO services.

Until a year back, BSNL was facing severe losses. The company showed tremendous improvement in FY15. It reported an operating loss of Rs. 692 crore in 2013-14, which turned into an operating profit of Rs. 672 crore in FY15. In 2016, this profit is expected to cross Rs. 3378 crore. The company also estimates a 10% growth in revenue in FY16 when compared to FY15.

In FY15, the main highlights of its earnings reports were the revenue growth and lower expenditure. For lowering the expenditure, the company decreased the employee strength to 225,000 in March 2015 from 238,000 in March 2014. However, employee cost still eats up 55% of its revenue. This is contradictory to players like Airtel, which maintains its employee cost as 5% of its revenues.