Jyotiraditya Scindia tasks BSNL to grow mobile service business by 50 pc next year

Time of India

a day ago

Union
telecom minister
Jyotiraditya
Scindia
on Monday asked state-run telecom firm
BSNL
to add customers and grow its mobile service business by 50 per cent in the next year.
During a review meeting of BSNL of all circle and business unit heads, the minister asked each unit to increase enterprise business by 25-30 per cent and fixed line business by a minimum of 15-20 per cent.
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"I'm giving you some targets. Your enterprise business must grow by a range of 25-30 per cent per SBU (strategic business unit). There's no reason why your CM (consumer mobility) business should not grow by 50 per cent. This is for next year. Even if you grow your ARPU by 50 per cent, you'll already be there," the minister said.
After the review meeting, Scindia told reporters that he wants BSNL to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) -- a key matrix for a telecom company growth -- by improving customer satisfaction and adding more subscribers.
"On an average, we will look at lifting those ARPUs... ARPUs will come through customer satisfaction, better CRM (customer relationship management). That is what we are focused on. It has to be a twinning of two aims. One, ensuring that customer satisfaction improves. You increase your customer base, and if your customer satisfaction improves, your ARPU will also improve," the minister said.
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He said BSNL's APRU varies from circle to circle where in some it is around Rs 40 and in some it is upwards of Rs 175.
Reliance Jio has posted an ARPU of Rs 208 in the June quarter while
Airtel
had last posted ARPU of Rs 245.
Scindia said BSNL had a capex of Rs 25,000 crore -- the largest in its history.
"It is important to look at the operating margin and the operating cash flows. Last year, we delivered almost a 2.5x increase in operating margins -- from Rs 2,395 crore to almost Rs 5,100 crore. On a quarterly basis, we will post healthy operating cash flows, and that is our target," the minister said.
BSNL has posted net profit in two consecutive quarters after a gap of 18 years. The state-run firm had posted a profit of Rs 280 crore in the March quarter of FY25 against a loss of Rs 849 crore in the year-ago period.
The company had posted a profit after tax of Rs 262 crore in the October-December period of the previous fiscal year.