Karnataka - Bangalore   

BSNL plans to have four million mobile subscribers

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Circle of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is confident of netting over four million cellular customers by the end of this financial year as creation of infrastructure has gained momentum. As of now, BSNL’s mobile customer base is around 1.8 million.

Expansion of BSNL mobile network hit a roadblock for two years owing to cancellation of tenders for procurement of various equipment for creation of the infrastructure. With the process being cleared recently, BSNL is gearing up to execute the works.

As a first step towards enhancing its customer-base, the company has cleared network congestion across the State, while this process has just started in Bangalore city. Congestion is being cleared by increasing the handling capacity of each tower, said General Manager (Mobile Services) R. Mani. In Bangalore, capacity of at least 60 towers out of 600 will be enhanced shortly, he added.

Under the expansion process, BSNL Karnataka Circle will add eight lakh new lines by erecting 800 towers in different parts of the State. An advance purchase order for 18 lakh new lines has already gone to ITI-Huawei consortium and the deal is likely to be finalised soon.

BSNL, like other cellular service providers, is facing difficulty in expanding the network and enhancing the capacity in urban areas. This is because of paucity of space to erect towers, Mr. Mani said.

BSNL is now in the process of hiring towers from infrastructure providers. He said at least 300 towers would be taken on hire by BSNL across the State, particularly in urban areas. For this, five to six infrastructure providers have been short-listed.

Mr. Mani said tenders under Phase VI of the mobile services are likely to be finalised in February next year. The share of South Zone in this expansion process is five million new lines, of which Karnataka Circle will get at least 1.9 million new lines. Once this expansion process is over, BSNL’s mobile subscriber-base will touch six million.

Once BSNL rolls out ITI-Huawei consortium’s expansion network, consumers in urban areas, including Bangalore, will be able to connect to broadband Internet on mobile. Of the 18 lakh new lines, 2.3 lakh lines will be 3G (third generation) compatible offering broadband Internet, while the rest will be 2G compatible.

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