BSNL plans Rs 17000 cr expansion this fiscal

India’s largest telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) plans to invest over Rs 17,000 crores to expand its network during the current financial year. 

 The major area of expansion has been identified as the mobile phones and a 60 million tender for GSM lines has been floated by the company.

The company has over two crores mobile subscribers and its net switching capacity is about six crores. In the next three years the company plans to double its net switching capacity.

 The company has invested Rs 8892 crores in the expansion of the Telecom network and new addition of Telephone lines during the last financial year.

 BSNL has also emerged as the largest service tax payer in India contributing more than Rs 10,000 crores to the Govt. Exchequer by way of Taxes and levies. 

 BSNL has declared a dividend of Rs 1175 crores, which is inclusive of interim dividend of Rs 375 crores for the fiscal year 2005-06.

The company has earned a net profit of Rs 8940 crores on the revenue of Rs 40177 crores for the year 2005-06. The company has registered a net increase of 11.13% in revenue during the year. The operating profit of the company for the year was Rs 8270 crores showing a growth of 23.69% over the corresponding previous year.

The highlight of the performance in 2005-06 was the net addition of 82 lakh line including 77 lakh new cellular customers and launching of Broadband services in all the major towns of the country. BSNL is the main Telecom Service Provider to BPO and KPO industries in the country and also the largest Service Provider to the rural India. 

Source- http://www.moneycontrol.com

Timely pension to BSNL staff stressed

BHUBANESWAR: The Controller Communication Accounts (CCA), Orissa circle, Kamalakanta Panda has emphasised on timely and error-free disbursement of pension to retired BSNL employees.

Noting that lack of coordination between officers is posing problems in clearance of pension papers with revised DA, he said such issues should be sorted out.

Talking to the mediapersons here on Wednesday following a meeting with public sector banks, Reserve Bank of India and Postal authorities for smooth disbursement of pension, he said, in 2005-06, 277 pension cases were settled.

And as many as 108 cases were settled in four months of the current fiscal. Similarly, 205 GPF cases were settled in 2005-06. Stating that banks and post offices can facilitate quick disbursement of pensions, he said pensioners need to be educated about the facilities available in these places.

Banks and post offices should open special counters for the purpose. CCA, a field unit of Department of Telecommunication under Ministry of Communications and IT, came into existence on October 1, 2000, the day BSNL was born.

Its role is disbursement and settlement of pension and GPF cases. Gradually it diversified into implementation of Bharat Nirman Yojana - a scheme to upgrade the rural infrastructure by connecting villages with telecom network.

Source- http://www.newindpress.com

Dial 1550 BSNL to expand phone-on-phone service

The BSNL has decided to expand its ‘phone-on-phone service’ to more stations in the Kannur Secondary Switching area (SSA).

Addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, P T Mathew, general manager, telecom, said with the introduction of this service, customers only have to make a call to number 1550 for getting services like fixed landline connection, broadband internet, STD/ISD, public telephones, tarang and mobile connections.

The BSNL officials will visit the customer with the required application forms, receive the registration charges and provide the service without delay.

He said that at present this facility is available in 10 stations in Thalassery, 29 stations in Kannur, 21 stations in Payyanur, 28 stations in Kanhangad and 3 stations in Kasargod.

Mathew said that the BSNL is planning to introduce a new scheme under which mobile connections will be provided with handsets.

The BSNL has entered into agreement for the purpose with the leading mobile set manufacturers, Nokia and Motorola. Details regarding this package will be announced later, he said.

Under the BSNL’s fixed line prepaid scheme customers can recharge their phones and thus control telephone expenses.

Local, STD and ISD facilities are available under this facility and it is user friendly compared to India Telephone Cards as the customer need not dial the secret code for making calls.

The general manager said that the rent for the ‘incoming only landline,’ Sulabh plan, would be reduced considerably from October 1.

The minimum safe custody period of telephones has been reduced from the existing three months to one month. Customers need to pay full rent only for the first month of the safe custody and for the remaining period only 20 percent of the normal rent is levied.

Under the Corporate Plan-100, customers with a minimum of 100 landlines in the state will be required to pay only Rs 100 every month. Details regarding this plan will be available from the BSNL commercial offices said the general manager.

He disclosed that for the new BSNL mobile customers the activation charge is reduced from the existing Rs 200 to Rs 100.

Source- http://www.newindpress.com

BSNL Crosses 20 Million Subscribers

UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sep 11: The country largest telecom service provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), today said its mobile user base has crossed the 20 million mark.
The figures show a remarkable increase in the number of subscribers which was 20,063,294 as on 31st August 2006. The circle area of UP east has enrolled the maximum subscribers with 2,193,475 in numbers followed by Tamil Nadu & Kerala with 1,715,032 and 1,685,739 respectively. Maharashtra and Karnataka held the fourth and fifth positions with 1,381,156 & 1,370,850 respectively. Zone wise, South was the top scorer followed by North and East.
BSNL had recently bundled mobile and landline tariffs in a unique offer. Facilitating prepaid subscribers under ‘Excel Power’ plan BSNL has introduced new reduced tariff of Rs 0.10/min with 60-second pulse for two selected numbers, out of which a landline number is mandatory with no additional fixed charges. Many such innovative schemes make BSNL mobile one of the most economic service provider and its all India footprint give added advantage over competition.

Source-http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=12_9_2006&ItemID=30&cat=5

BSNL plans massive expansion in mobile services

New Delhi, Aug. 24 (UNI): The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., (BSNL) has floated a tender for procurement of 63.5 million mobile telephone lines with the aim of achieving the largest ever expansion, IT and Communication Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, said today.

“The capacity expansion of BSNL alone in the next two to three years will be equivalent to the capacity expansion of all the private players put together,” Maran said in the Rajya Sabha.

Answering a supplementary, he said with the implementation of the capacity expansion, not only the coverage of mobile telephony would increase, but the quality of service would also improve.

Members belonging to different parties, including the treasury benches, complained about the poor quality of mobile phone services by the MTNL and BSNL.

Senior CPM member, Sitaram Yechuri, went to the extent of asking the Minister whether the government companies were not installing communication towers so that the private operators could flourish.

Source- http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200608241450.htm