BSNL Records Rs 4,721 Crore Gross Revenue Amidst Decreasing ARPU

According to the latest data from TRAI, the Indian telecom giant BSNL has reported a gross revenue of Rs 4,721 crore for the April-June quarter of 2023. However, Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of BSNL stood at Rs 2,049.95 crore during the same period.

BSNL’s AGR witnessed a 1.61 percent decline quarter-on-quarter and a 5.88 percent decrease year-on-year, marking a challenging trend for the Indian state owned company in the competitive telecom landscape, the TRAI report indicated recently.

The fourth largest telecom operator in India boasted a wireless subscriber base of 99.62 million, with a significant portion, 31.34 million customers, situated in rural India. This figure pales in comparison to industry leaders such as Reliance Jio with 438.58 million subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 373.73 million subscribers, and Vodafone Idea with 229.66 million subscribers during the same quarter.

Additionally, BSNL has reported 6.48 million wireline customers, a figure trailing behind competitors like Reliance Jio with 9.95 million and Bharti Airtel with 7.51 million wireline customers. Notably, 1.98 million of BSNL’s wireline customers are in rural areas, while 4.5 million are in urban regions.

The company claimed a broadband (wired+wireless) customer base of 24.59 million, though Reliance Jio Infocomm dominated the wired broadband segment with 26.12 percent market share, boasting 9.17 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 6.54 million subscribers.

In the wireless broadband segment, Reliance Jio retained the lion’s share at 53.07 percent with 438.58 million subscribers, trailed by Bharti Airtel at 29.23 percent with 241.52 million subscribers.

However, BSNL/MTNL reported a decrease in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from Rs. 60.87 in the March 2023 quarter to Rs 60.61 in the June 2023 quarter. Notably, BSNL/MTNL’s post-paid ARPU stood at Rs 111.92, while the pre-paid ARPU was Rs 58.23. In contrast, private service providers witnessed a 2.21 percent increase in ARPU from Rs 150.83 in the March 2023 quarter to Rs. 154.16 in the June 2023 quarter.

BSNL’s presence in the VSAT market also appeared comparatively limited, reporting 6,556 VSAT customers by the end of June 2023. This number was notably lower than Hughes Communications Ltd’s 176,472 and Nelco’s 67,172 customers. Hughes Communications led the Indian VSAT market with a commanding 69.80 percent market share, followed by Nelco with 26.57 percent market share by the close of Jun-23.

The figures paint a picture of BSNL’s position in the telecommunications arena, grappling with decreasing AGR and ARPU while facing stiff competition from other industry players across various segments.

Baburajan Kizhakedath