The Hindu : National : BSNL to add 50-lakh mobile connections

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BSNL to add 50-lakh mobile connections

Sandeep Joshi

It will float tenders for other regions

To counter challenge posed by private operators
Aim is to reach 10-crore subscriber base by 2010

NEW DELHI: To consolidate its position in the highly competitive mobile market, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to expand its GSM capacity across India. Starting from the southern States, for which it has placed orders to add 50-lakh new connections, the State-owned telecom company will soon be floating more tenders for other regions.

Legal hurdle

To avoid any operational or legal hurdle, senior officials have decided to go ahead with the existing vendors for telecom circles in the southern States so that capacity expansion plan could be completed without any delay and more lines added to counter the challenge being posed by the private mobile operators.

The BSNL wants to come out from the last year’s setback when its mega tender of 4.5-crore lines was curtailed by half.

Future requirements

“Apart from the South, we are also adding our capacity so that we can catch up with private telecom players. In the North and East regions, around 1.5-crore new lines will be added. These additions will not only meet our future requirements but will also help us in achieving our aim of reaching 10-crore subscriber base by 2010, with a market share of 33 per cent,” said a senior official.

The BSNL, which was ranked second a couple of years ago, has been slipping in ranking as private players have been regularly expanding their network and adding more subscribers.

Delay in capacity expansion has been hurting expansion of the BSNL’s mobile subscriber base.

Ranks fourth

With 3.7-crore subscribers, the BSNL now ranks fourth among all mobile companies, the leading firms being Bharti Airtel (5.7-crore subscribers), Reliance Communications (4.2-crore), and Vodafone-Essar (4.1-crore) respectively.

Among the four, Reliance Communications is the only company whose services are mainly based on CDMA platform, while the other three use GSM technology.

Stiff competition

Among the GSM mobile operators, the competition is stiff between four leading operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, BSNL and Idea (2.1-crore subscribers). Last month, mobile companies added a record 87.7-lakh new mobile subscribers, for the first time surpassing even monthly additions by the Chinese companies.

Leadership position

While Bharti Airtel added over 22-lakh new subscribers in January 2008, Vodafone Essar added 12.8-lakh, BSNL 11.8-lakh and Idea 9-lakh. “New capacity building will help us to retain our leadership position again in the highly competitive Indian mobile market,” the official added.

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