What is the present situation of the telecom sector?
It is good. Working amid tough competition is always a challenging job. Despite having hectic competitions, we are able to sustain ourselves by reaching our targets. However, our top priority is always rendering satisfactory services to the customers.
Is there any impact of Jio or any other private telecom player on BSNL?
Definitely not. Majority of the people are opting for Jio for the freebies. Many customers are taking the new Jio SIM, but not porting out from their existing telecom service providers. Till now, nobody has ported to Jio from BSNL. We will assess the situation after March. We do not feel Jio is a tough competition for us.
Then, which telecom company is a competition for you?
Airtel India is a competitor for us network-wise. We are sure we will bridge the gap in the services by improving the existing system as well as by providing better tariff plans as per the interests of the customers. We have introduced biometric activations in our limits. Nearly 50% of the activations were done through eKYC for spot activations of pre-paid SIMs with Aadhaar link.
How many customers are there in your company as on date?
BSNL having around 7.5 lakh customers in our jurisdiction. We have 93,000 landlines. The number of customers for mobile services have been increasing in the last few years. However, we lost 3,000 landline customers as compared to last year. We have introduced a number of schemes to arrest the decline in landline connections and we are getting a good response. We have also introduced unlimited calls at night and on Sundays as well as Rs 49 scheme for landline and Rs 249 scheme for broadband.
Is there any growth in the number of customers coming into the BSNL?
Yes. We have received tremendous growth in SIM activations. We activated 1,68,485 SIMs as on March 24 against 1,34,137 in 2015-16, thus registering 125% growth when compared to the previous year. However, due to reduction in the value of tariffs and plans, we earned only Rs 55.49 crore this year as on March 24 against Rs 60.34 crore in the previous year.
Is mobile number portability playing spoilsport for BSNL?
No. Mobile number portability (MNP) has been a positive for the BSNL. It means the number of port out customers were less as compared to port in customers.
BSNL does not have 4G services. How are you able to compete with 4G players?
Whatever speed they provide in 4G, we are able to give the same speed with our 3G srevices. BSNL’s 3G is better than the 4G of other private players. We are not able to introduce the VoLTE technologies due to financial crunch.
What are your future plans for BSNL?
We are planning to introduce WiFi hotspots in the city. This was supposed to be done in March, but we are planning to launch it in April now. We are trying to approach colleges, hospitals and public places. It is an alternative to 4G.
What about the strengthening of rural network?
Being a government company, we have to provide services to the rural people also. Private players concentrate on areas where they get business, but we cover all areas.
What is the current status of infrastructure facilities of BSNL?
At present, we have 345 2G mobile towers and 245 3G mobile towers in the entire district. We are planning to add nearly 100 more towers next year. This year, we have focused on 3G mobile towers. Recently, we have provided towers at NSTL and Vizag Steel Plant.
Are the BSNL towers prone to radiation problems?
No. BSNL towers’ radiation is much less than the others. We follow electromagnetic field guidelines before setting up the towers.
