BSNL's revenue has been impacted due to delays in the rollout of 4G services and stiff competition in the mobile segment, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Telecom, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, stated that BSNL has awarded purchase orders for 100,000 4G sites, of which 83,993 sites have been installed and 74,521 are operational as of March 8.
"The revenue of BSNL has been impacted due to delays in the rollout of 4G services as well as stiff competition in the mobile segment," the minister said. In response to a question regarding the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), Sekhar explained that the government approved the first revival package in 2019 to reduce BSNL’s operating costs through debt restructuring via sovereign guarantee bonds and VRS.
"After the implementation of VRS in 2019, the employee cost of BSNL was reduced by 51%. As a result, BSNL began earning operating profit from 2020-21. Currently, no proposal for VRS in BSNL is under consideration by the department," the minister added.
Meanwhile, the minister attributed the delay to issues with indigenously developed equipment. BSNL has placed a purchase order for indigenously developed 4G sites for pan-India deployment. Supply of the 4G equipment began in September 2023, and as of March 8, 2025, a total of 83,993 4G sites have been installed, with 74,521 sites operational. The equipment is also 5G upgradable.