BSNL revenue rises to Rs 25,000 crore, up by 25% in two years, says MoS Pemmasani
New Delhi, May 26
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited recorded a revenue growth from Rs 21,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore, marking a 20 to 25 per cent increase over the last two years, Union Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said. According to the Ministry of Communications, the state-run telecom enterprise also registered a rise in its EBITDA margins, which grew from Rs 50 crore to nearly Rs 7,000 crore during the same period.
The Ministry of Communications attributed this growth to structural adjustments, infrastructure upgrades, and a shift toward private-sector operational discipline. The strategy focused on resolving long-standing issues, including outdated infrastructure, suboptimal tower uptime, and institutional work culture.
"We approached the revival with systematic rigour and private-sector discipline. The results are now visible like stronger finances, indigenous technology, and connectivity reaching India's remotest corners," Pemmasani said.
As part of the operational overhaul, the telecom department targeted specific regional inefficiencies. In states like Andhra Pradesh, where tower uptime previously stood at 75 per cent, a target of 95 per cent was established.
The turnaround involved replacing 50,000 batteries across an equal number of towers, upgrading power plants, and replacing aging cables alongside setting localized targets for enterprise business and new mobile connections.
A major technical milestone for the enterprise involved the indigenous deployment of fourth-generation (4G) network infrastructure.
"We launched indigenous 4G on 100,000 towers within a single year and have now perfected it to near-global standards. India is now only the fifth country in the world to develop such deep indigenous 4G technology," Pemmasani said.
To rebuild public trust and expand its user base, BSNL is utilizing the network of India Post offices to distribute one-rupee SIM cards and deploy postal workers for doorstep awareness campaigns in rural markets.
"We know trust cannot return overnight. Our tariffs are much cheaper than those of private players. We are giving One Rupee SIM cards through India Post offices so people can try our service. We are also working with India Post to ensure doorstep awareness in rural areas, where postal workers actively explain BSNL's improved services. In villages where BSNL is the only reliable option, people should definitely subscribe," the Minister said.
According to the Ministry of Communications, the network expansion also focused on rural and security-sensitive regions, deploying approximately 25,000 towers out of a targeted 35,000 to cover villages affected by difficult terrain or left-wing extremism.
"Prime Minister Modi ji's vision is to connect every village, no matter how remote. We monitor progress every week. We have already installed around 25,000 towers covering these villages, with another 10,000 in progress," Pemmasani noted, adding that infrastructure in locations like Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh helped residents contact law enforcement and accelerated regional development.
Parallel to the tower deployment, the government is executing the BharatNet project with an investment of nearly Rs 1,40,000 crore to supply high-speed fiber to every Gram Panchayat.
"We are investing nearly Rs 1,40,000 crore to provide high-speed fibre to every Gram Panchayat. Learning from the shortcomings of BharatNet 1 and 2, we have fixed the issues and are executing with full accountability. Currently, only 15 lakh rural households are connected. Our target is 1.5 crore households in the first phase," Pemmasani said.
"Communication infrastructure is central to Prime Minister Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. It is not just about towers and cables, it is about changing the mindset and culture of public institutions," the Minister added, summarizing his five-year vision for BSNL as "trustworthy, proud, and profitable."
— ANI
Reader Comments
Finally some good news for BSNL! 😊 I remember when their service was so unreliable we had to switch to Jio. But if they're really deploying indigenous 4G and fixing tower uptime, that's a game changer. Especially for villages where no private operator goes. India Post partnership is brilliant for last-mile trust.
EBITDA from Rs 50 crore to Rs 7,000 crore is a massive leap! Shows what private sector discipline can achieve in PSUs. But I remain skeptical until I see consistent service quality in my area. BSNL 4G still feels sluggish compared to Airtel in cities. Let's hope the indigenous tech actually works well in urban areas too.
Happy to see BSNL turning around! As someone from a remote village in MP, BSNL is literally the only network that works. Private companies only care about cities. If the government invests Rs 1.4 lakh crore in BharatNet and connects 1.5 crore rural households, that will transform digital India. Modi ji's vision is finally showing results. 🇮🇳
Good progress but still a long way to go. The minister's target of 'trustworthy, proud, and profitable' BSNL by 2029 is ambitious. Customer service is still pathetic in many places - try getting a complaint resolved in a BSNL office! They need to fix that ground-level culture. Also, indigenous 4G is great but what about 5G? Are we going to miss that boat too?
As an engineer, I'm most impressed by the indigenous 4G deployment on 1 lakh towers in one year!
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