BSNL aims to regain market share with 4G foray amid competition from private players
BSNL has recently placed an order of Rs 15,000 crore with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for purchase of 4G equipment.
NEW DELHI: Will BSNL’s 4G foray change the fortune of the nearly dormant state-owned telecom company? BSNL has recently placed an order of Rs 15,000 crore with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for purchase of 4G equipment. This order should give a much-needed fillip to BSNL, which is losing its subscribers rapidly, due to lack of 4G services.
As orders are in place now, the telco can announce the launch of its 4G services anytime soon. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), BSNL had a market share of only 9.27% in March 2023 with 103.68 million subscribers in the mobile segment. While, its competitors Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea hold 90.73% market share. In March 2023, BSNL lost more than 50,000 subscribers to its competitors.
In terms of active users too, BSNL fares badly, and has only 53.7% active users in March 2023. It means half of its subscribers are not active at all or using its SIM as a secondary. BSNL last added new wireless users in Jan 2021. Since then, the telco has been losing subscribers.
As per the latest Trai data, India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio held 37.61% market share, Bharti Airtel held 32.42%, and Vodafone Idea had 20.70% market share at the end of March. The state-owned company, which once used to have the highest market share in the landline (wireline) segment, is now languishing at third place with 25% market share at the end of March 2023. Last year, Reliance Jio had toppled BSNL to become the country’s largest fixed-line service provider. Jio holds 32.09% market share, followed by Bharti Airtel 25.16%.
Overall, BSNL and MTNL held 33.15% of the wireline market share as of March 31, 2023. Recently, CMD of BSNL PK Purwar assured that things are moving fast in the right direction. He also mentioned that BSNL will cover the entire state of India with its 4G network by the end of 2023. The company will start deploying 4G networks in northern India first and simultaneously it will cover the entire country.
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