Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a stater-run Indian telecom operator, is about to add 50,000 to 60,000 more mobile sites to build a robust network. The company has already made close to 1 lakh 4G sites active for the consumers across India. Now there are plans to add more sites in the near future. All of this depends on whether the government approves these additional sites or not and a timeline for that also has to be ascertained.
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Telecom minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that BSNL made a capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 20,000 crore in a single year to build out its 4G network. These 4G sites will be upgraded to 5G in the near future.
Speaking at the Times Now summit, Scindia said, "Today, 1 lakh towers of BSNL are on the ground ... radiating 4G signal on our own Atmanirbhar stack. The basis on which we are now looking to expand that network. So, 98,000 towers to be exact are pretty much done. We are trying to expand that to another 50,000- 60,000 towers. Ensure the robustness of that network and then very quickly switch to 5G."
BSNL's mobile subscriber base grew from 8.55 crore users in June 2024 to 9.27 crore presently. Further, the quarterly profit of the telco was Rs 262 crore after an 18 year gap, the minister mentioned.
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"On an EBITDA basis, in 2023-2024, on an operating margin basis, we made close to ?2,395 crores. We are now spinning out cash. In 2024-2025, that grew to ?5,100 crores. My hope is that this year, which closes next week, we should increase that ?5,000 crore operating profit by double-digit figures in fiscal 2025-26," Scindia said.
