Back in 2007 BSNL made some really great move which marked a benchmarking event on India's wired broadband sector - to upgrade to wired broadband speed to 2Mbps minimum in most plans. Though that time was Manmohan Singh's era, many argue that main game was started during Atal Bihari Bajpeyi's time. Whatever the man stood behind BSNL's growth is actually Dayanidhi Maran, who was minister of communications and information technology (22 May '04 - 16 May '07).
When BJP came at the power, I personally thought that it will mark another success story of BSNL - however it is not, rather government is on the way of privatization of government assets like Air India is gonna be sold. BSNL may see the same fate with no proper planning and investment, though ministers keep pressing the bell that that will not happen.
Whatever it happens, the loss making state owned PSU telco - BSNL and MTNL will continue to make losses against the competitive mobile market of Airtel, Jio, Vodafone+Idea.
In February 2018, the telecom minister Manoj Sinha clarified that there is no plan at present to merge these two state owned telco but there will be steps taken to create synergy between two including effective utilisation of human resources as well as land and buildings.
Currently BSNL had approx. 9.4% share of mobile market (data of January '18) and has plans to invest of 9300 - 10300 cr. rupees for 2018-19. Rs 4300 cr will be invested for network expansion like strengthening the mobile network, upgrading broadband infrastructure and strengthening the core network; and another 5000 - 6000 cr for governmental telecom projects Bharat Net, Network for Spectrum, the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North East and connecting the islands of Andaman and Lakshadeep.
In early May 2018 Vanu India and HFCL (Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd) won a contract from BSNL worth Rs 579 cr to create network in North East which includes installation of 924 solar powered base transceiver station (BTS) sites.
With the mobile revolution, BSNL, who had a great market monopoly in landline and broadband sector has lost the game as people left landphones for mobile - and so the ADSL broadband which comes with a landline connection. People took mobile and opted private ISP's services.
BSNL was the frontrunner to launch 4G services in India in 2009 starting from Ajmer, Rajasthan - with fixed WiMAX BSNL's 4G services was limited to few other circles incl. Kerala, UP, West Bengal, only with limited service offering. But in February 2016 BSNL announced to shut down WiMAX services in most circles where subscribers base is too less.
In 2010 when BWA auction happened, Qualcomm, Tikona, Aircel, Airtel, Augere, Infotel (Jio in disguise) bagged 20MHz spectrum on 2300MHz while BSNL and MTNL were given spectrum on 2500-2600MHz band for 4G roll out. Later both PSU surrendered their BWA spectrum in 2011 (BSNL kept spectrum on Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana) and got refund of 6700 cr and 4500 cr approx respectively in 2014-15.
In September 2016 BSNL looked for getting very efficient 700MHz spectrum for 4G roll out, but it did not work out as the auction was unsuccessful and reserve price was not fixed.
In the middle of March '18 The Standing Committee of Information Technology headed by BJP MP Anurag Singh Thakur recommended that government should allocate 4G spectrum to BSNL and MTNL at earliest to help them to compete against private telcos. The committe also noted that nearly 80% Indians are accessing internet over 4G and without 4G services PSU duo is loosing the data customers as well as huge revenues.
End of April, 2018 it is been heard that BSNL will be alloted 5MHz of 2100MHz spectrum in 21 circles except Rajasthan (where 800MHz spectrum will be given). While though MTNL is seeking 10MHz in Delhi in the 1800 band and 5MHz in Mumbai in 2100 band, and is keen to start its 4G services in the current financial year, there is no definitve news regarding MTNL's spectrum allocation.
Will BSNL 4G Work Against all Odds?
First thing is BSNL will be a late entrant in the 4G market which is already taken of by Jio and Airtel. And many Vodafone & Idea customers stick to their operators as they were pretty much happy with them.
Presently BSNL is with 3G which is not as good as 4G, but BSNL is not sitting idle. They revised their tariff plans, rolled out new recharge vouchers to match with 4G operators' tariff plans.
In some circles, specially in north India and metro cities BSNL is not performing well and all 4G offering operators are offering almost similar plans. Therefore I don't see huge attention awaiting for BSNL 4G.
Also with just 5 MHz on 2100MHz is not sufficient for stable 4G network. It would have poor indoor coverage and just 5MHz of spectrum will go overloaded fast. BSNL have to refarm its 3G spectrum for standard 4G roll out, which in turn may cause poor 3G performance during the 4G trials and launch.
BSNL is not here for making great profit book, and it has a social responsibility being a part of government. BSNL has most deep penetration in the country including the remotest areas. But with such 4G strategy the state run operator will struggle against the private operators backed by top business houses of India.
In the mean time BSNL has launched a rebranded service with Patanjali - Patanjali Plans with special service. Kind of pseudo-MVNO services, Patanjali SIM cards are available for only if you are linked with Patanjali.
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| Internet Meme : When you browse internet using Patanjali SIM |
If you can remember that Adpay has launched India's first true MVNO services, called AEROVOYCE (http://www.aerovoyce.com/) on BSNL's network.
As per the website the soft launch was done on 17th December 2018 and there are some plans including Rs 249 pack which includes unlimited L/N calls, unlimited data and 40 SMS for 28 days.
As per the website the soft launch was done on 17th December 2018 and there are some plans including Rs 249 pack which includes unlimited L/N calls, unlimited data and 40 SMS for 28 days.
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| Aerovoyce Kiosk in Tamilnadu | Photo credit: facebook |
This article was originally written for Telecomtalk.info. A revised and rewritten article (not by me) is available over there.
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