Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has surprised the market by showing increasing subscriber market share. Even without 4G networks into play, the telco has managed to grow its subscriber market share from 8.6% in FY17 to 10.03% in FY21. Even though it is a marginal increase in percentage, it can’t be ignored that the telco has done this without the presence of 4G networks. This just begs me to ask a question, what would happen once the telco starts offering 4G services in India as well? But there’s also one more thing that needs to be considered. Between FY17 and FY21, many new subscribers have jumped into the market looking for cheap tariffs, and BSNL offers just that.
BSNL Saw Consistent Growth in Subscriber Market Share Over the Years
According to an NDTV Profit report, BSNL saw consistent growth in subscriber market share in the last few years. In FY17, the telco had a subscriber market share of 8.6%, which grew to 9.4% in FY18, then to 9.9% in FY19, and then to 10.3% in FY20. But then it came slightly down to 10.03% in FY21. Even after the announcement of a revival plan for the state-run telco in 2019, things haven’t moved very aggressively when it comes to telco’s 4G network expansion. BSNL is still struggling to get complete support from the government to launch its 4G networks which is a little sad. The telco is moving ahead with the hybrid 4G plan in India, where it will invite local as well foreign vendors to provide equipment for its mobile sites throughout the country. BSNL issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to five bidders on July 1, 2021. Things are moving very slow for the telco when it comes to 4G, and looking at the current rate of how fast things are happening, it might take another year at least for BSNL to launch nationwide 4G networks.
