Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
New Delhi-based Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is seventh largest telecommunications company in the world and offers an array of services: wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, broadband, and carrier service. Founded by the Government of India, in 2000, BSNL had revenues equaling $4.3 billion, in 2015 with data composing up to 10% of this revenue. It offers services throughout most of India, with the exception of the two largest urban area (Mumbai and Delhi, which are served by another government owned company, MTNL). As an erstwhile government department, BSNL employs over 200,000 Indians for about 90 million subscribers.
BSNL has also launched many initiatives to improve data sales; these include low tariffs, improved broadband speeds, and switching to IP-based systems. Bharat has also benefited from increases in their monthly subscriber base, with over two million new subscribers in the past year, and a more positive Mobile Number Portability trend, a service that allows phone users to switch mobile service providers while keeping their current phone number.
BSNL plans to set up 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots with 4G services by the end of 2016. It has also launched Wi-Fi Mobile Data Offloading Services across the southern part of the country in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala with 40,000 more new hotspots planned in total over the next two years.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. along with MTNL, will receive an investment of up to $6 billion from the government to upgrade its services until 2020.
Last updated: August 17th, 2016
