Lok Sabha Question No. 1208 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: BSNL Sim Cards
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Arvind Ganpat Sawant

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOKSABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH FEBRUARY, 2022

## BSNL SIM CARDS

## †1208. SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether most of the mobile phone users are not showing any interest to purchase SIM Cards of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) due to unavailability of 4G and 5G services and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is  incurring heavy  losses due to decreasing number of BSNL mobile  consumers  on  account  of  unavailability  of  BSNL  4G  services  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (c) the reasons for not starting BSNL 4G network throughout the country;
- (d) the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  save  BSNL  in  competition  with  private companies; and
- (e) the steps being taken by the Government for redressal of network related issues like call drop and poor signal of telecom companies including BSNL?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

- (a) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) adds new Mobile phone connections regularly. Year-wise addition of new mobile connections for the past three years is as follows:

| Year    | No. of new mobile connections added during the year   |
|---------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| 2018-19 | 2,16,64,576                                           |
| 2019-20 | 1,94,28,101                                           |
| 2020-21 | 1,53,75,842                                           |

- (b) The mobile subscriber base of BSNL has gradually increased in last 5 years except for a slight decrease in 2020-21 as detailed below:

| As on      | Mobile Subscriber base   |
|------------|--------------------------|
| 31.03.2017 | 10,09,89,553             |
| 31.03.2018 | 11,16,79,483             |
| 31.03.2019 | 11,57,42,565             |
| 31.03.2020 | 11,98,72,123             |
| 31.03.2021 | 11,86,28,482             |

However, BSNL  is  incurring  losses  because  of  various  reasons  including  competition. The details of losses of BSNL for the last five years are as follows:

| Financial Year   | Losses of BSNL (in Rs Cr)   |
|------------------|-----------------------------|
| 2016-17          | (-)4793                     |
| 2017-18          | (-)7993                     |
| 2018-19          | (-)14904                    |
| 2019-20          | (-)15500                    |
| 2020-21          | (-)7441                     |

(c) & (d) The Government approved the revival plan for BSNL and MTNL on 23.10.2019. The  revival  plan  inter-alia  includes  measures  to  reduce  the  Staff  cost  through  a  Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees of age 50 years and above, administrative allotment of spectrum for providing 4G services with funding through budgetary allocation, monetisation of non-core  and  core  assets  to  generate  resources  to  retire  debt,  meet  CAPEX  and  other requirement,  debt  restructuring  by  raising  of  Sovereign  Guarantee  Bonds  and  in-principle approval for merger of BSNL and MTNL.

In  line  with  Atmanirbhar  initiative,  BSNL  invited  the  Expression  of  Interest  (EoI)  on 01.01.2021  for  Proof  of  Concept  (PoC)  for  Indian  Companies  interested  in  participating  in BSNL's upcoming 4G tender.

(e) Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) including BSNL augment their telecom network based on techno-commercial considerations for redressal of network related issues like call drop and poor signal.

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