Revival package key for BSNL’s growth

As part of the revival strategy, the government has offered three packages to BSNL from 2019 to 2023.

The first and second revival packages

The first revival package to BSNL/ MTNL amounting to `69,000 crore was approved by the Centre in 2019. The 2nd revival package to the tune of `1.64 lakh crore was approved in July 2022.

Results achieved due to these two packages

“With the 1st package, BSNL became a stable company and with the 2nd package, it will become a viable entity” Union Minister of Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw,said at the time of announcing the 2nd package to BSNL.

The primary objective of the 2nd revival package was to repair the balance sheet, bring in fresh equity and new technology, implying 4G. Thanks to the two packages, BSNL has been earning operating profit; it’stotal debt has been reduced and it is poised to become a debt- free company sooner than later.

Third revival package-It's components

The Union Cabinet on June 7 approved the 3rd revival package of ₹89,047 crore to BSNL.With this, the total amount from the three revival packages works out to be about ₹ 3.22 lakh crore.

Features of the third package include:

a) Allotment of 4G/5G spectrum through equity infusion at ₹ 88,516 crore

b) Provision of ₹531.89 crore for miscellaneous purposes.

Government expectations from BSNL with the third package

The Union Government hopes that with the recent revival package, BSNL will emerge as a stable TSP (Telecom Service Provider) focussed on providing connectivity to the remotest parts of India.

Spectrum to BSNL

The Centre has decided to give more airwaves to BSNL. It has been assigned spectrum in the administrative route (without the need for participating in the auction).

It has been allotted spectrum of:

1. 10 MHz bandwidth in 700 MHz band (Lower band) in 22 LSAs (Licensed Service Areas) at ₹46,339 crore.

2. The lower band spectrum provides wide coverage and is suitable for rural areas, which are mainly served by BSNL.

3. 20 MHz bandwidth in 6 LSAs and 10 MHz bandwidth in 2 LSAs in 2500 MHz band (Mid-band) at ₹ 9,429 crore.

4. 70 MHz bandwidth in 3300 MHz band (Mid-band) in 22 LSAs at ₹ 26,184 crore.

5. 800 MHz bandwidth and 650 MHz bandwidth in 26 GHz band (Higher band) in 22 LSAs at ₹ 9428 crore.

How will BSNL utilise the spectrum?

With the above spectrum allotment, BSNL will provide:

1. Pan India 4G/ 5G service;

2. Provide 4G coverage in rural and uncovered villages;

3. Provide FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) for high speed internet services;

4. Offer services/spectrum for Captive Non Public Networks (CNPNs);

5. BSNL expects 20% growth in revenue with the full deployment of 4G service.

Pan India 4G/ 5G service

BSNL has started rolling out 4G service, which is to be upgraded to 5G. We should be proud that ours is the fifth country in the world using indigenous 4G technology. Atmanirbharatha is the USP of BSNL 4G, which should be marketed to increase its clientele. BSNL advertisements in this regard should be designed in such a way that it ignites a national fervour in favour of BSNL.

4G coverage in rural and uncovered villages

Under the 4G saturation project, BSNL will provide mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas. It has a provision to include 20% additional villages. In addition to this, 6,279 villages having only 2G/3G connectivity shall be upgraded to 4G connectivity. BSNL is especially chosen to implement this project among all the TSPs, given that only BSNL is having AtmaNirbhar Bharat’s 4G technology stack.

FWA

5G is a disruptive innovation, which gives ' fibre like' experience to the users. FWA is going to be a major use case of 5G. If we compare FWA service with FTTH (Fibre to the home) service, the provisioning time for FWA service is significantly less. FWA service will not involve any fibre-laying costs and ROW (Right of Way) costs.

FWA is especially suitable for:

1. High-rise buildings for which fibre laying is a challenge;

2. Places where fibre penetration is not there;

3. Places where fibre-laying is difficult, like hilly terrains, forests and rural areas;

Nowadays municipal authorities are not allowing laying of FTTH cables on poles or trees on roads and so FWA service is the only option in such cases.

The availability of FWA service will be much better than FTTH service. The latter is affected by fibre cuts, which happen when roads are dug. Taking clearance from road authorities will delay restoration of FTTH service.

As volumes pick up, the price of the 5G router will come down. It is hoped that many small scale entrepreneurs will evince interest in manufacturing 5G routers.

CNPNs

As per a Supreme Court verdict in 2012, telecom spectrum can be allotted only through the auction route. So Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has rightly not accepted TRAI’s recommendation on setting aside licensed spectrum for CNPNs. Adani Data Networks has participated in the auction and purchased spectrum for setting up captive 5G networks for their ports/plants.

With this stand of DOT, the options available to enterprises for their 5G solutions are as follows:

Captive network for the enterprise can be set up by the TSP using Network Slicing from TSPs network. This Network Splicing feature is available in 5G if it is implemented in SA mode (separate core for 4G and 5G services);

TSP can establish an independent private network in an enterprise’s premises using TSP’s spectrum;

The enterprise can get spectrum on a lease basis from TSP and establish its own CNPN.

This evidences that the entities have to depend on TSPs for establishing their captive networks. It is a welcome situation as TSPs have domain expertise in setting up and operation of telecom networks. If the TSPs lose the enterprise business segment, they have to depend only on retail customers and their ARPU will come down, rendering their business unviable.

BSNL will lease out part of its 5G spectrum to enterprises for setting up CNPNs. It has tie-ups with TCIL, Amantya and Echelon Edge for establishing such networks for enterprises. These companies will act as System Integrators and BSNL spectrum will be used for establishing the captive wireless networks for them.

Way forward

The Union Government wants BSNL to provide Digital India services to the weakest of weak sections. It is with this thought-process that the cabinet approved the third package.

The government feels that time has come when BSNL should be in the league of major players. The Centre firmly believes that the telecom PSU will flourish because of its strategic importance.

Let us hope that with this package, BSNL will bring connectivity to places where normal commercial telecom companies would not be able to.

BSNL has outsourced many jobs. Its staff and the outsource staff at the customer service centres should be customer-friendly. They should be educated about BSNL’s new services like 4G, 4G Saturation project and various features of 4G service; facilities offered to customers in 4G, and different tariff plans so that they will guide the customers to their satisfaction.

(The writer is former Advisor, DoT, Government of India)