While Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) couldn’t make much of an impact with its wireless services (because of 4G’s absence), the state-run telco has certainly proved itself to be the king of wired broadband services. BSNL has been adding 100000 new wired broadband connections in India every month. According to the data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), BSNL held a 25.63% market share in the wired broadband segment with 6.03 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel at the second with 3.37 million subscribers in the Quarter Ending (QE) June 2021.
India Had 23.52 Million Wired Broadband Customers at the End of June 2021
As per TRAI data, there were a total of 792.78 million broadband customers in India at the end of June 2021. However, out of this huge figure, only 23.52 million subscribers were wired broadband subscribers.
This just shows that the wired broadband connection hasn’t even touched the surface in the Indian market. One thing that clicks for BSNL is its presence across the nation. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, the top competitors of BSNL, might not make fiber investments in areas where there is less demand for services.
However, BSNL’s whole aim is to connect India to the internet before looking at profits which is a good thing. At the same time, BSNL’s FTTH plans offer over-the-top (OTT) benefits, 3.3TB data and now also come with long-term validities after being regularised. All of these factors count in favour of BSNL and makes it the top wired broadband service provider in the country. Bharti Airtel is in the second position, but it is halfway down from BSNL’s figures which means that the state-run telco has the foundation for becoming the largest wired broadband service provider in India for the long run. The revenues from wired broadband services are expected to grow in the near future.
