PLI scheme creates 28,000 new jobs, ₹47,000-crore BSNL capex in works: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Time of India

5 days ago

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is leaving no stone unturned in creating a conducive environment for the telecom industry and is aggressively monitoring service quality as the country's telecom market achieves new milestones. In an interaction with ETTelecom's Muntazir Abbas,
Union Minister of Communications and the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia
speaks on state-run
BSNL
's 4G network expansion, capital expenditure (capex) strategy, quality of service,
Vodafone Idea
health, and 6G-led innovation. Edited excerpts.
How many 4G (fourth generation) network sites have been deployed so far by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), and by when commercial 5G is expected?
The 4G is a huge priority, not only for BSNL, but for the Department of Telecommunications. I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that it's a huge priority for the country too. When BSNL was entering into 4G, it had the same option that the other private players had, which was to buy international equipment and execute it. The
Prime
Minister was very clear and said that if we are laying out the 4G network, then BSNL must deploy it based on Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) equipment.
Eventually, in a record time of 22 months, we had a private sector player,
Tejas Networks
, that was doing the RAN, and a public sector player, CDoT, that was doing the core software. And we had a domestic system integrator, TCS, that was doing the integration. to roll out a domestic solution. In the last year, roughly from June-July last year till now, we have deployed close to 91,000 sites out of a total of 95,000-96,000. Now, we are tying it up with the core software and are running simulations to ensure quality of services.
The second part of this expansion, with an additional 22,000-25,000 sites, will have to take place. Once the quality of service has been ensured, we will look at the possibilities of 5G as well.
Still analysts feel that the number of 4G sites which you have just mentioned are still far to reach the mark anywhere closer to what private sector telcos have already deployed?
Once the network is perfected, rolling out the balance towers is not that difficult to do. Now, we have also looked at what that will entail. We have another close to ₹47,000 crore capex plan in place for BSNL. Meanwhile, BSNL has done its highest-ever capex of ₹25,000 crores during last year. For the first time in the history of BSNL, the ministry held a 12-hour-long meeting with all the 32 CGMs across every circle in India with an idea to exchange best practices and local priorities, as well as to promote entrepreneurship. All three business verticals— enterprise business (EB), consumer mobility (CM) and consumer fixed access (CFA)— are doing well.
Sometime back, you may have noticed MP police ported out as many as 80,000 CUG connections?
BSNL is a service provider like any other company. It must survive in a competitive environment like any other player. BSNL has lost out with the MP police because it was a competitive tender-based procedure. There have been other tenders where we won government orders. Within MP only we won with another arm of the government for close to about 35,000 SIM cards. We won the tender against all the private players.
READ MORE | MoS Telecom Pemmasani asks BSNL to improve service quality, resolve tower power issues
Despite bottlenecks, BSNL has apparently gained new subscribers. Can you share a few data points?
We have grown from 8.55 crore subscribers last year to about 9.1 crore after a long time. For the first time in our history, after 17 years, we have shown net profit. In Q3 of FY2024-25, our net profit was ₹262 crores, and in Q4, BSNL's net profit was about ₹280 crores. On an operating basis, our EBITDA margin has increased to about 20% from 12.5% in Q3 of 2024. The operating margin was about ₹2,300 crores. It has now grown to nearly ₹5,395 crores, which means in one year, BSNL has increased its operating margin by 156%. Now we have to ensure the quality of service (QoS).
Any update on BharatNet (amended) 3 program as four packages are yet to be re-tendered?
By October-November, I think those should be done. All 12 packages are done.
The state-run company just recently partnered with multinationals for training purposes. What's the idea behind it?
We have introduced the Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training (BRBRAITT) in Jabalpur which is the property of BSNL. We have introduced an ecosystem environment where Ericsson, Qualcomm, Nokia and Cisco— the world majors from are going to set up training modules for all our young people. We have a target of training between 1,000 to 2,000 students per year. A lot of them will be picked up by these majors.
What is the update on the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI)?
PLI has been a huge success. ₹4,305 crores worth of investment has come in, and ₹80,000 crores worth of sales have been made, ₹16,500 crores worth of exports have been done, and close to 28,000 jobs have been created. 42 companies have participated in this. For the first time, companies like Cisco, Ericsson and Nokia are today tying up with domestic companies and doing production from here.
READ MORE | Scindia, Pemmasani review BSNL's operational progress, 4G roll out
The government is the largest stakeholder in Vodafone Idea. Do you think there is a need to take some concrete steps?
For every company— be it Vodafone Idea or Jio or Airtel or even for that matter BSNL, it is for the management of those companies to determine what their future is going to be. We are a 49% stakeholder in Vodafone Idea today, but we do not intend to go above it because the minute you go above 49%, then it becomes a PSU, which is not the government's intention.
On the telecom network side, are you satisfied with the quality of service (QoS) presently?
Yes, I think as far as what the TRAI guidelines are, all our four telecom service providers today are above these service-level agreements and service-level benchmarks that are in place today. I think Vodafone Idea is just close to the benchmark— a little below in the Northeast in a recent test drive. But otherwise, all are above that. We are looking at what the benchmarks are internationally. Initially, telcos were reporting on a quarterly basis. Now, the telcos must report it monthly. So that is going to be a continuous process of refinement. It is something that is top of mind for me. This is something I monitor very closely on my dashboard to ensure providing the best quality of service to the customers.
What are the few milestones in India's telecom sector?
We are already the cheapest service in the world. Today, a voice call is hardly 3 paise, compared to 50 paise 10 years ago. Today, data is ₹9.87 per gigabyte (GB) versus ₹287 10 years ago. We have huge economies of scale, which is why today we have 1.16 billion mobile customers. We have grown on the internet from 240 million to close to 970 million users currently. We have grown on broadband, which is greater than 1 GB, from 60 million customers to close to 944 million customers.
The government has formed a 6G alliance to contribute meaningfully to the global standards and patents by 2030. Any updates?
Bharat 6G Alliance is doing its job. I just had a review in Bengaluru. I spent nearly 3 hours with them. Our goal is to ensure that we contribute 10% of patents. In the 6G standard symposium with ITU and 3GPP, we are well on our way. We have seven verticals, and each of them is working seriously. I am taking periodic reviews and monitoring it because we have to make sure that we come up with product innovation.