 "BSNL reports Rs 8,234 crore net loss in FY15")
BSNL has reported a net loss of Rs 8,234 crore for 2014-15 against Rs 7,020 crore in 2013-14. BSNL's chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava ascribed the rise in net losses to asset depreciation being calculated according to the new Companies Act norms. He said the net loss would have been much less, at Rs 5,370 crore, if asset depreciation was calculated according to the old Companies Act. BSNL reported an operating profit of Rs 672 crore for the financial year under review, compared with an operating loss of Rs 691 crore in 2013-14.
Income from services increased 4.16 per cent to Rs 27,242 crore in 2014-15. The figure was Rs 26,153 crore in the previous financial year.
"BSNL had bad financial results for the past few years, but in 2014-15, it was able to reverse the trend. It is a known fact that most of the telecom majors are having heavy debt burdens, but BSNL continues to be relatively better, showing a low debt equity ratio," said Shrivastava.
The debt equity ratio of BSNL is around 0.13 per cent, the lowest in the sector.
BSNL will invest Rs 7,700 crore in the current financial year to expand network. The company also plans to launch 4G long-term evolution (LTE) services on the 2,600 MHz band in few cities by the end of FY16.
"BSNL is focusing on data. Currently, 10 per cent of the revenue is coming from mobile data and it is expected to go up 20-25 per cent in the next few years," Shrivastava added.
Also on the cards is a 'super highway transport network' with 100 gigabits per second, or GPS, line capacity to improve data connectivity to state capitals and major cities.
BSNL has decided to form a separate infrastructure company for tower business with 64,500 towers and it expects Rs 2,200 crore revenue in the next two to four years. It also plans to monetise its land assets and expects to generate Rs 2,500 crore revenues.
It has also opened 500 exclusive call centres for GSM, wire line and broadband services.
BSNL has started to monetise its towers by entering into agreements with other operators and there is 42 per cent increase in tower business. A tower subsidiary will be created subject to Cabinet approval, said Shrivastava.
BSNL is also in talks with private telcos for intra circle roaming (ICR) agreements to share its passive infrastructure with them. It expects to earn Rs 300-400 crore a year through ICR arrangements starting the next financial year. Along with spectrum sharing, the revenue expectations will go much higher, Shrivastava had earlier told Business Standard in an interview. In ICR agreements, passive infrastructure such as base transceiver stations will be shared among the operators when a subscriber of an operator roams in that circle.
"We have started discussions with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular on spectrum sharing. We are in the process of working out the modalities and will soon come up with proposals for the same. A deal, though, is 6-12 months away," Shrivastava had said.
Private operators, especially Bharti Airtel, have been asking the government for more spectrum and with the opening up of sharing and trading norms, the telcos are looking to strike deals with potential firms to share the scarce resource.
BSNL has idle spectrum in many locations. "It (spectrum sharing and trading) will be a huge revenue potential for us," Shrivastava added.
The state-owned firm has been struggling to survive in the highly competitive telecom sector and for the past few years, it has been incurring losses. It has been taking various measures aimed at a turnaround, including focusing on data services to improve revenues. BSNL will be investing Rs 39,000 crore in the next five years, a major chunk of it will be on data.
It will set up 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of the current financial year, out of which 450 have already been set up across 50 cities.
