Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia addresses the gathering during the launch of the new BSNL Logo and seven new services, at BSNL Bhawan, Janpath, in New Delhi on October 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) launched a slew of new offerings and initiatives, ranging from spam blockers to automated SIM kiosks and direct-to-device services, as the State-owned firm vowed to proactively woo subscribers and claw back market share.

Sporting a brand new logo, BSNL also introduced low latency 5G connectivity for mining operations in partnership with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), leveraging Made-in-India equipment and its technological expertise.

In all, 7 new services of the telco were launched by Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Meanwhile, sources said that the telecom corporation is shifting to a higher gear to grab market share, with a game plan that includes the commercial launch of 4G services in the coming months.

The state-owned telco is also giving shape to asset monetisation plans, with an innovative multi-pronged approach that may include identifying land for ‘data warehousing’ and using the last leg as a Mobile Edge Computing, sources said.

The telecom firm, which currently trails private sector counterparts in market share, will come out by next week with a 5G NAAS tender for Delhi and Mumbai.

This will enable a 5G high-speed network on a hotspot basis, and it will offer true 5G. The financing model for BSNL will be based on ‘Network-as-a-service’.

The trials will be first for Delhi and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the initiatives unveiled by BSNL on Tuesday include spam-blocking solutions that automatically filter out phishing attempts and malicious SMS and aim to create a safer communication environment for its users.

Automated SIM kiosks allow users to purchase, upgrade, port or replace SIMs on a 24/7 basis, leveraging UPI or QR-enabled payments with seamless KYC integration and multi-lingual access.

India’s first direct-to-device connectivity solution converges satellite and terrestrial mobile networks to deliver “reliable connectivity”, a release said, adding that the technology is particularly useful in emergency situations and isolated regions. It can even enable UPI payments in such areas.

BSNL has also launched wifi roaming services for its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) customers, enabling high-speed internet access at the telco’s hotspots at no extra charge – in its process of minimising data costs for users.

The telco also announced a fibre-based intranet TV service with 500-plus live channels and Pay TV through its FTTH network. This service would be accessible to all BSNL FTTH subscribers without additional charges. The data used for TV viewing would not be consuming the FTTH data pack.

“BSNL has been a flagship enterprise of the government, a flagship enterprise that represents aspirations, dreams and expectations of every single citizen of our country,” Mr. Scindia said while unveiling the new services and new logo of BSNL.

BSNL has been serving the interest of people achieving various milestones year after year, he said, exuding confidence that “as the landscape has become competitive and consolidated” BSNL “will rise to new challenges”.

The telco has come up with its own 4G telecom stack, which will soon migrate to even 5G, Mr. Scindia said, terming it a huge accomplishment for India.

“Our hope is that BSNL will always be at the forefront of tech innovation,” he said.

The minister said that BSNL will have 1,00,000 4G sites by mid-next year and graduate some of those sites to 5G by that timeline too.

“And in the last six months, since the beginning of the roll-out of 4G…we have not even completed the rollout of 4G yet….from 75 lakh subscribers in March 2024, we have now gone to 1.8 crore subscribers, almost 2.5 times in a matter of six months, whereas we have rolled out and fiberised only 38,000 towers out of one lakh towers,” the minister said, adding that the amount of data that has increased in 4G traffic is almost 7 fold in this period.

Robert Ravi, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, said the telco is not looking to increase tariffs in the near future.

BSNL is looking to fully focus on consumer experience, and gain subscriber confidence, Mr. Ravi said, adding that “we don’t see any need for tariff hikes in the near future”.