Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNl) recently rolled out a nationwide new scheme. The company announced free night calling for its landline network in every direction between 9pm and 7am. BSNl is the first telecommunication company to provide such a service to landline users. Chairman and managing director, BSNl, Anupam Shrivastava said, “2012 showed a low market share for BSNl and to tackle this growing problem, we planned to launch schemes that would benefit each section of the society.” Since then, the PSU has taken new steps as part of its revival and expansion strategy.
They have improved its data usage services and has invested heavily in broadband. “Our main source of revenue still is the broadband segment, with around 50 per cent as part of the total revenue earned,” Shrivastava pointed out. The feedback shows a surge of 30 per cent in BSNl’s landline connections in a month.
BSNl also launched a scheme for its mobile users where the users will get the benefit of free roaming and incoming. Shrivastava commented, “It is our most far reaching mobile scheme till now. This is only the first stage. If it is well received, we’ll expand.”
Currently, BSNl doesn’t have the funds to enter the 4G area. Nevertheless it is looking to improve its Wi-Fi technology. It is installing Wi-Fi technologies at various identified hotspots which will provide free data exchange for half an hour, and then the users will have to buy the service to use it further. “Wi-Fi technology has been installed at Varanasi, Hyderabad and recently at the Taj Mahal. We have covered 150 hotspots at 25 different locations. The company’s plan for this year is to cover 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots at 250 locations,” he said.
In a bid to expand BSNl’s operations further, the company has tied up with Bangladesh. It has bought internet bandwidth from there and is supplying it to the North East. It is also in talks with the BRICS countries as part of its going global initiative.