Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run telecom operator, is close to finish its planned rollout of 1 lakh 4G sites throughout India. The state-run telecom operator's revenues have been impacted due to 4G rollout. The telco has so far rolled out 83,993 4G sites, out of which 74,521 sites are on-air. By June 2025, BSNL will have all 1 lakh sites operational and on-air.
Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Telecom, said, "the revenue of BSNL is impacted due to delay in rollout of 4G services as well as stiff competition in the mobile segment." The minister was replying to the Rajya Sabha in a written reply according to PTI.
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While the state-run telecom operator has been able to register operational profits after the multiple relief packages, it is yet to register net profits. For that, BSNL needs high-paying customers in its subscribers mix. That won't happen until BSNL rolls out 4G in every corner of the country. By 2027-28, Nokia believes that more than 50% of the telecom subscribers in India would be using 5G. Thus, BSNL will not only have to spread its 4G fast, but also roll out 5G quickly.
VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) was one of the major contributors in helping BSNL reduce costs. There were rumours until a few months back that BSNL will again implement VRS.
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"After implementation of VRS in 2019, the employee cost of BSNL got reduced by 51 per cent. As a result of the above, BSNL started earning operating profit from 2020-21. At present, no proposal for VRS in BSNL is under consideration in the department," said Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar.
BSNL's 4G plans are the most affordable in the country, and while the telco was able to add new users after the tariff hikes from the private telcos, it is now back to losing users.
