Even after paying through the nose, you often do not receive the bare minimum quality or service. This is when Indian consumers prefer to go by the tagline 'Kitna Deti Hai' or the mileage they can get after paying the money. After remaining under the myth of the 'fastest data network' and 'superfast speeds' for some years and paying the increasing tariff, mobile subscribers seem to have struck back at private telecom companies. In July, while Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MNTL) witnessed the deletion of subscribers, State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) gained more than 2.94mn (million) or 29.4 lakh new subscribers.
There are two main reasons for the shift of mobile users to BSNL. First, it offers the lowest monthly tariff compared to private telcos. Second, the Union government pumped money into the State-run company to build a faster 4G network across the country. Before going into the explanation, let us first see how BSNL fared in July.
According to data shared by the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI), BSNL added 2.94mn wireless subscribers in July. At the same time, Bharti Airtel lost 1.69mn subscribers, followed by 1.41mn by Vodafone Idea and 758,463 subscribers by Jio. State-run MTNL, which has been struggling to survive due to a fund crunch and reduced number of subscribers, lost 3,009 wireless subscribers during the month.
"Except Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata, Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Assam and Uttar Pradesh (west) circles, all other service areas have shown a decline in their wireless subscribers during July 2024," TRAI says.
Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion of 99.05% of its active wireless subscribers (VLR), as opposed to its total wireless subscribers (HLR), on the date of peak VLR in July. MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR at 23.27% of its HLR during the same period.
According to TRAI, during July, 13.68mn requests were received for mobile number portability (MNP) by subscribers. It says, "Out of a total of 13.68mn, new requests received from zone-I and zone-II were 7.60mn and 6.09mn, respectively. The cumulative MNP requests increased from 997.44mn at the end of June to 1,011.13mn at the end of July 2024 since the implementation of MNP."
Intra-service area MNP was implemented first in the Haryana service area on 25 November 2010 and in the rest of the country on 20 January 2011. Inter-service area MNP was implemented in the country on 3 July 2015. MNP allows wireless telephone subscribers to retain the same mobile numbers when they change mobile operators or relocate from one service area to another.
During the first week of July, Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea increased mobile tariffs by 10% to 27% for all subscribers.
Starting 3 July 2024, all private telcos have implemented tariff hikes for all subscribers. For example, Airtel's 1GB per day plan for 28 days validity was increased to Rs299 from Rs265, while Jio increased the tariff for a 1.5GB per day plan with the same validity to Rs299 from Rs239. Vodafone Idea's basic daily data plan is priced at Rs299, up from Rs269, with 1GB of data per day, unlimited calling, and 100 SMS per day for 28 days.
On the other hand, BSNL offers 2GB of data per day for a validity of 54 days at Rs347. A plan with 3GB data per day with a validity of 84 days costs just Rs599 on BSNL. Jio's plan for an 84-day validity with 1.5GB of data per day costs Rs799, while Airtel charges Rs859 for the same plan.
Justifying the tariff hike by private telcos, the department of telecom (DoT) in a release, says, "In last two years, some of the telecom services providers (TSPs) have invested heavily in rolling out the 5G services across the country. This has resulted in a significant increase in median mobile speed to the level of 100Mbps and a jump in India's international rank from 111, in October 2022 to 15 today."
"While protecting the interests of subscribers for orderly growth of the telecommunication sector, which includes investments in the latest technologies like 5G, 6G, internet of things (IoT) or machine-to-machine (M2M) for Industry 4.0, the financial viability of the sector is important," it added.
According to TRAI, total wireless subscribers decreased from 1,170.53mn at the end of June to 1,169.61mn at the end of July 2024, registering a monthly decline rate of 0.08%. Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 635mn at the end of June to 635.46mn at the end of July 2024, however, wireless subscription in rural areas decreased from 535.53mn to 534.15mn during the same period.
As of 31 July 2024, the private access service providers held 92.25% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two State-run telcos have a market share of only 7.75%.
While BSNL was struggling with 3G and, in the absence of 4G, witnessing an exodus of subscribers to other telcos, the Union government was pumping money to revive the telco. In June 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the third package for BSNL as part of the revival strategy, with a total outlay of Rs89,047 crore. It includes allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum for BSNL through equity infusion.
Except for a few places in high mountainous regions or Maoist-affected remote areas, BSNL is now offering 4G services across the country. The spectrum allotment allows BSNL to provide pan-India 4G and 5G services.
The Indian government approved the first revival package for BSNL and MTNL in 2019. It amounted to Rs69,000 crore. In 2022, the government approved the second revival package for both the loss-making State-run telcos amounting to Rs1.64 lakh crore.
Last week, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union minister for communications, told the media about the work progress in BSNL. He said, "Around 35,000 towers are already installed for 4G service, and another one lakh towers will be installed by June (next year). The services will improve by this and users will get new services too."
While private telcos have already moved to 5G, BSNL is now aiming to achieve full 4G coverage across the country. It may appear as a lethargic movement by BSNL for some who are lucky to reside in metros and get to taste the fruits of the latest tech innovations and services.
However, for the majority of Indians, especially those living outside metros, the struggle is not about 4G or 5G or higher speed but about having a network signal on their mobiles. While roaming across the country, you would find several blank spots where, except BSNL, no other telco is present or providing any service. And I am not even talking about remote places. Just visit any small hamlet or a basti a little distance from the highways, and you will see what I am trying to convey.
While the performance of BSNL in July is noteworthy, it will be too early to predict a mass exodus of subscribers from other telcos to the State-run telco. BSNL has miles to go before it can even be considered a threat to the incumbent rank-holding telcos.
Hope BSNL catches up with other telcos in providing subscribers with the latest network technology and services. For now, subscribers have shown telcos what matters most to them: the tariff.
I do not want to talk about Jio since it is so bad in the locality I live in bangalore that I have to come to road from inside the house to get Jio tower signal.This is the ground reality of the companies.I do not know about bsnl but since it is a govt company we do not expect much but looking at the matter mentioned about looks like they are lot of better than these private players who are only fleecing customers with their rotten service and keep on increasing prices.TRAI wake up from your great slumber