Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal face BIG challenge as this govt company rises after 17 years, earns profit of Rs...

BSNL has become a force to be reckoned with since last year. The government-run telecom company continues to upgrade its infrastructure and technologies to give tough competition to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel. The company has made a record after 17 years. BSNL has posted a net profit of Rs 262 crore for the December quarter (October- December), marking its return to profitability after almost 17 years. The last time that BSNL posted a quarterly profit was in 2007. Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia termed it a "significant turning point" for the state-owned telco that has been focused on the expansion of service offerings and subscriber base.

BSNL scripted an improvement on several counts, clinching 14-18 per cent growth across mobility, FTTH and leased line service offering, Scindia, Minister for Communications said adding that the subscriber base too has risen to about 9 crore in December, from 8.4 crore in June. "Today is an important day for BSNL, and for the journey of the telecom sector in India...BSNL has, in third quarter of FY2024-25, for the first time in 17 years, posted a profit on a quarterly basis. The last time that BSNL posted a quarterly profit was in the year 2007," he said on BSNL's earnings posted on Friday.

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How BSNL turned profitable

BSNL's mobility services revenue grew by 15 per cent, Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) revenue increased by 18 per cent and leased line services revenue rose by 14 per cent over Q3 of the previous year. The Q3 scorecard underlined the telco's focus on innovation, network expansion, cost optimisation, and customer-centric service improvements. Additionally, BSNL has cut its finance cost and overall expenditure, leading to a decline in losses by over Rs 1,800 crore compared to last year.

With a view to enhancing customer experience, BSNL has introduced offerings such as National WiFi Roaming, BiTV – Free Entertainment for All Mobile Customers, and IFTV for All FTTH Customers, and first private 5G connectivity for mining. In the last four years, BSNL's EBITDA doubled from Rs 1,100 crore to almost Rs 2,100 crore as of FY23-24.

(With inputs from PTI)