BSNl has initiated a scheme where its landline users can make free midnight calls. Anupam Shrivastava, chairman and managing director, tells Shrabasti Mallik that the company plans to create 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in the country by the end of the financial year
You have taken over the management recently. What is BSNl’s position in the telecom industry todayIJ
let’s begin from the profit and loss account because that is where the company is assessed. We have a top line of having approximately 20,000-28,000 crore, which also include revenues from all the segments like mobile, landline enterprise business like lease circuits, cloud computing and also value added services. The expenditure is also roughly the same, so as per statistics we are almost able to meet our operational requirements, and earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBIDA) is quite comfortable with the figures. It is the way a company’s performance is assessed but the maximum outflow from our income is spent on meeting out staff expenses which is roughly 14,000-15,000 crore which is almost 55 per cent of our top line. In comparison to private operators, it is very high because private operators’ contribution of the staff expenses vis-a-vis their top line is as less as five per cent. So when we look at profit and loss account, the loss that we incur comes from depreciation of the huge assets that we inherited from Department of Telecommunications (DOT).
In order to make BSNl profitable, which is our topmost priority, we have to initiate actions which will slowly generate enough ‘operating revenue’ which will compensate not only for the depreciation but should also be able to meet our expenses on the salary and the staff.
What are your immediate goals for the companyIJ
We are looking at increasing our top line and therefore we have focussed on the data services. If you look at the telecom scenario, the age of voice communication which started with 2G is already over. BSNl was allowed to enter into mobile business in 2002 and by 2006, we had almost become number one because we were allowed to procure our equipment and roll out our network on time. Post 2006, the procurement of the equipment was not possible; somehow we were denied the permission. There were some legal hurdles and political situations which made things difficult till 2012. In six years, the company lost the voice bus and it was the time when market saturated. In 2006-07, the market saturation was 20 per cent and in 2015 it is already touching 80 per cent. So we could not get hold of the required equipment and therefore we declined for sometime.
But now we are again entering into another area — data, which is the key. It is a time when data is expanding. We are finding ourselves in a very positive situation where data is about to drive the business of the telecom operators. Consumers are driving data and it, in turn, will drive the business. I think we are strategically placed, for the simple reason that we are basically landline operators. For others, in order to buy data services, they have to come through the spectrum route because they are not as well placed in the landline as we are. And also because of the convergence, if we are able to take advantage of that strength and exploit the strength of the Wi-Fi, it will contribute largely to the data business. These are our primary focus and that is why we are investing largely on Wi-Fi hotspots and also investing in our 3G network.
What the new schemes that the company is rolling outIJ
We are in new interconnect user charges system (IUC) which is defined by TRAI. So recently TRAI has done away with the charges that telecom companies pay to each other when a call is being made from one landline to the other. Taking advantage of that IUC we are coming up with a novel landline tariff packages and thereby we also hope to resurrect the landline business which has been going down in the past few years.
We have recently announced night unlimited calls from our landline network to any other landline network in the country from 9 pm till 7 am. This is our second priority to resurrect the landline.
Tell us about your initiative of making certain places in India Wi-Fi free.
The first Wi-Fi of BSNl was started from Varanasi in February. The service covers all the ghats in the city. We have also installed 30 Wi-Fi hotspots in Hyderabad in the locality of Hussain Sagar lake within the course of two months. Our next stop is the Taj Mahal. The basic idea is to attract the attention of the people towards the utility of the Wi-Fi.
Our agenda is to cover all the cities in India and have 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in 250 locations by the end of this financial year. This is just the beginning; we will be soon initiating the service in Khajuraho, Bodh Gaya, Konark, Hampi and many more places.
What is the company’s view on the ongoing debate of net neutralityIJ
The subject is being debated in the country like no other topic was ever debated and it has many aspects. The way I look at it is a question of your view, my view and the truth. TRAI and DOT are taking their course of actions to benefit the country. BSNl supports net neutrality. All our plans are supporting it wherein our data plan doesn’t distinguish where the content is coming from.