BSNL, MTNL's subscriber base sees continuous rise in last 4 yrs

BSNL had 94.51 million subscribers, MTNL 5.59 million subscribers by end of March 2012

The government today said there has been a continuous increase in the mobile subscriber base of state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL during the last four financial years to 2011-12.

"During the last four years of 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, BSNL and MTNL have achieved a continuous increase in their mobile subscriber base," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said in a reply in Rajya Sabha.

By the end of March 2009, BSNL had 46.71 million and MTNL 4.18 million mobile subscribers, which increased to 94.51 million subscribers for BSNL and 5.59 million subscribers for MTNL by end of March 2012, Sibal said.

The Minister said customers of both public sector firms "sometimes face problems" with regard to quality of service (QoS).

"However, BSNL and MTNL are in general, meeting the QoS benchmarks prescribed by TRAI," Sibal said.

The minister said BSNL and MTNL have initiated a number of steps to increase their subscriber base, which include special consumer retention camps, monitoring of QoS parameters, improvement in customer care services among others.