BSNL loses out to Airtel in broadband

BSNL's prepaid mobile users in Agra are going through a bad patch these days. Barely a few months after it launched the "Excel Anant" lifelong prepaid scheme in Agra, the company has gone short of mobile recharge and top-up coupons causing trouble to a large number of prepaid subscribers who are unable to recharge their phones due to unavailability of prepaid recharge coupons.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Sudeep Kumar, deputy general manager, mobile operations, BSNL, said the problem arose due to a sudden break in the supply of recharge coupons from the headquarters in Meerut.

"In Agra alone, he said, there is a shortage of 20,000 recharge coupons and top-up coupons of small denominations.

He said, at present, the company only had recharge and top-up coupons of Rs 560 and above.

In view of the tough competition being faced by the company from other private operators in the prepaid mobile segment, he said, it was imperative that the coupons arrived soon otherwise the company could lose its prepaid customers to other private operators.

According to a retired ITS official, there had been a proposal for setting up ten thousand-line WLL exchange in Agra for CDMA-based mobile services but it was taken back by BSNL.

This proposal was instead given to Gujarat despite the company having made all preparations to launch CDMA mobile services in Agra this year.

"Besides, there was an acute shortage of BSNL data cards and routers for leased lines and broadband services in Agra, which was proving to be a beneficial business centre for Airtel that recently launched its broadband and leased line services at a cheaper tariff than BSNL.

At present, Airtel is making more money than BSNL in the broadband segment despite being a late entrant in the business.