| "We are erecting new towers across the telecom district during the current year to increase cellphone subscriber base to one lakh," J Ganta, general manager, Vizag telecom district, told Business Standard. |
| In addition to the existing 62 towers, BSNL has chalked out plans to erect 45 more in the telecom district. While 18 are under construction, work on 27 will begin soon. |
| According to Ganta, all the new towers would become operational by December 2006. The cost of construction of each tower ranges between Rs 35 lakh and Rs 50 lakh depending on the height and place. |
| BSNL has so far sold only 75,000 cell connections in the telecom district despite having infrastructure for two lakh connections. "Keeping this gap in mind, we are putting all efforts to sell more cell connections," Ganta said. |
| During the first five months of the current fiscal, BSNL sold about 9,000 cell connections. It targets to touch the one-lakh mark by the end of this fiscal from the existing 77,200 connections. |
| As part of its target of reaching out to more subscribers, BSNL will introduce new schemes in coming days and reduce call charges and tariff. It expects that the new drive will help it reach its goal. |
| "In the landline segment too, we are taking several initiatives like organising road shows to win over new customers," he said. As on date, BSNL has about 1.52 lakh landline connections in the telecom district. |
| Despite drop in revenue due to growth stagnation in the landline segment, margins are increasing year on year. |
| "Vizag telecom district's net surplus for the year 2005-06 was Rs 57.29 crore as against Rs 51.68 crore in the preceding year. In the current year, we are expecting a net surplus of Rs 60 crore in spite of the total revenue remaining the same at Rs 150 crore. This is possible because of value-added services like broadband and others services," he said. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard