Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run Indian telecom operator, is said to be coming out with two bonds to raise 24.04 billion rupees ($290 million). According to a Reuters report, there will be two 10-year bonds backed by the central government's guarantee. BSNL has invited coupons and commitment bids from investors and bankers. The bonds are rated AAA (CE) by Crisil and carry an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee from the union government.
BSNL needs money to deploy 4G. The state-run telco is purchasing its equipment from Tejas Networks and the technology is being integrated by TCS into the network. To upgrade 1 lakh sites across India and manage existing operations, BSNL needs money and the revenue that the business is generating currently is not enough.
Read More - BSNL Increases Validity Offered with Rs 699 and Rs 999 Plans
A lack of high-speed networks throughout India has hurt the state-run telco's capability to keep subscriber churn rate under control. The state-run telco's active customers have dipped below 50 million and most of them are low-paying customers utilising 2G and 3G services. While BSNL had launched 4G in some areas of India, PAN-India coverage is required quickly to ensure that more customers are attracted to the telco's services and the existing ones do not leave the network.
Read More - BSNL Installs 3,500 4G Towers Across 5 North Indian States: Report
Much recently, BSNL deployed 3500 sites of 4G across five major North Indian states including, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. At present, BSNL is also constructing sites in Telangana and Tamil Nadu along with more South Indian states to launch 4G in the near future.
BSNL is also running a promotional offer wherein it is asking customers to upgrade to 4G SIM cards from their current 2G/3G SIMs at no additional cost and get 4GB of free data in return. The promotional offer from the company will be available for customers until March 31, 2024.
