New Delhi, February 14, 2025 – BSNL, the state-owned telecommunications company, has announced a net profit of ₹262 crore for the third quarter of fiscal 2024-2025. This marks the first time the company has returned to profit since 2007, indicating an important turnaround following nearly 17 years of financial turbulence.
Factors For Profitability
BSNL’s journey to profitability can be credited to a series of strategic actions expected to deliver considerable advantages:
- Revenue Growth In Core Services: The Company Witnessed Huge Increase In Key Segments As Compared To The Same Quarter Last Year:
Mobility Services-15%
Fiber To The Home-18%
Leased Line Service 14%
Cost Optimization-Reduction In Interest & Other Cost Resulting In Losses Drop Of More Than ₹1,800 Crore Compared To Last Year.
- Network Expansion – The Company Fast-Tracked Its 4G Rollout And Fiber Upgradation To Provide Connectivity To Urban And Rural Areas.
- Customer-Focused Innovations: BSNL Unveiled Several Initiatives Designed To Enhance The Customer Experience, Namely:
- National Wifi Roaming-Enable Seamless Internet Connectivity Across Networks.
- BiTV-Free Entertainment For All Mobile Customers.
- IFTV-Exclusive Entertainment For FTTH Customers.
Leadership View
A. Robert J. Ravi, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, expressed pleasure regarding performance this quarter for many reasons: “We are pleased with our financial performance this quarter, and that embodies all of our strategies toward innovation, customer satisfaction, and aggressive network expansion. With that in place, we expect to enjoy more than 20% revenue growth by the close of the financial year.”
Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia projected it as ‘an apt turning point for BSNL’. Notably, BSNL made service provision central and grew its base substantially, from 8.4 crores in June to 9 crores in December.
Support from the Government and Prospect for the Future
Starting from 2019, the government has injected ₹3.22 lakh crore into BSNL with MTNL through three revival packages that include financing 4G rollouts. Thus far, this support has been instrumental in BSNL’s turnaround.
Moving forward, BSNL intends to continue its aggressive expansion activities, specifically to install and commission 100,000 planned 4G towers by June 2025. In conjunction with this, it will also maintain an emphasis on service excellence, 5G preparedness, and digital transformation as the means for offsetting profit and enhancing its telecom position in India.
Earning its profit after 17 years symbolizes the essence of its strategic plan along taxpayers’ contributions. Innovation, high network coverage, operational cost competitiveness, and customer-centric services have formed the basis of a more promising future in the competition-ridden telecom spectrum of India.
Important Points to Draw Attention To:
- Profitability: BSNL had a net profit of ₹262 crore in the third quarter of FY25, marking the first profit for the company since 2007.
- Revenue Growth: Significant increases in mobility services (up 15%), FTTH (up 18%), and leased line services (up 14%) pushed profitability.
- Cost-cutting measures that allowed the company to reduce losses by over ₹1,800 crore compared to last year’s performance were a conspicuous success.
- Migrations into faster 4G and fiber-optic infrastructure upgrades have improved connectivity nationwide.
Introductions of initiatives such as National WiFi Roaming and BiTV improved customer satisfaction and service quality.
As BSNL manages its growth pattern, it also makes a level of commitment to systematically grow shareholder value and marketspreading opportunities in and around driving innovation within the telecom space.
