Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Communication Service Provider |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Availability | Countrywide except Delhi & Mumbai |
| Owner | The Government of India |
| Key people | S.D. Saxena (CFO); A.K. Sinha (CEO) |
| Past names | DTS / DTO / DoT |
| Website | BSNL.co.in |
BSNL or Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is India's largest Communication Service Provider (CSP), and seventh largest in the world. Previously known as DoT (Department of Telecommunications) when it was under federal government control, it became a corporation in 2000. BSNL has footprints throughout India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL, and presently commands over 33.9 million Wireline, 2.9 million CDMA-WLL and 23 million GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the Financial Year ending March 31, 2006 stood at US$ 8.6 billion with a net profit of US$ 1.9 billion. BSNL is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) wholly owned by Government of India with a status of 'Mini-ratna'. BSNL has applied for the status of coveted PSU category, i.e. Navratna, which under consideration of the Government of India.
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[edit] History
The foundation of Telecom Network in India was laid by British sometime in 19th Century & history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of Telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the Telecom in India was operated as a Government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile Post & Telegraph Department (P&T). In 1975 the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was resposnsible for running of Telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government for Private investment, therefore it became necessary to separate the Government's policy wing from Operations wing. The Government of India corporatised the operations wing of DoT on October 01, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
[edit] Main Services being provided by BSNL
BSNL provides almost every telecom service, however following are the main Telecom Services being provided by BSNL in India:-
1. Universal Telecom Sevices : Fixed wireline services & Wireless in Local loop (WLL) using CDMA Technology called bfone and Tarang.
2. Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone services using GSM platform,called Cellone and BSNL's GSM Cellular services are know as Excel Power (Prepaid).
3. Internet: BSNL is providing internet as dial-up connection (Sancharnet) and ADSL-Broadband ([[Dataone]]).
4. Intelligent Netwok (IN): BSNL is providing IN services like tele-voting, toll free calling, premium calling etc.
[edit] Major service brands of BSNL
bfone : Fixed wireline phone
Excel Power : Prepaid GSM Mobile
Sancharnet : Internet Services
[edit] BSNL Units
BSNL is divided into following administrative units:-
Telecom Circles: Telecom Circles & Metro districts are responsible for providing service to the customers. There are 24 Telecom Circles and 2 Metro districts.
1. Andaman & Nicobar Telecom Circle
2. Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle
8. Himachal Pradesh Telecom Circle
9. Jammu & Kashmir Telecom Circle
13. Madhya Pradesh Telecom Circle
14. Maharashtra Telecom Circle
15. North East-I Telecom Circle
16. North East-II Telecom Circle
21. Uttar Pradesh (East) Telecom Circle
22. Uttar Pradesh (West) Telecom Circle
24. West Bengal Telecom Circle
Metro Districts
Project Circles
1. Eastern Telecom Project Circle
2. Western Telecom Project Circle
3. Northern Telecom Project Circle
4. Southern Telecom Project Circle
5. IT Project Circle, Pune
Maintenance Regions
1. Eastern Telecom Maintenance Region
2. Western Telecom Maintenance Region
3. Northern Telecom Maintenance Region
4. Southern Telecom Maintenance Region
Specialized Telecom Units
1. Data Networks
2. National Centre For Electronic Switching
3. Technical & Development Circle
4. Quality Assurance
Production Units
1. Telecom Factory, Mumbai
2. Telecom Factory, Jabalpur
3. Telecom Factory, Richhai
4. Telecom Factory, Kolkata
Training Institutions
1. Advanced Level Telecom Training Centre
2. Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Of Telecom Training
3. National Academy of Telecom Finance and Management
4. Regional Telecom Training Centres
5. Circle Telecom Training Centres
6. District Telecom Training Centres
Other Units
1. Telecom Stores
2. Telecom Electrical Wing
3. Telecom Civil Wing
[edit] BSNL Present & Furture
Since its corporatisation in October 2000, BSNL has been actively providing connections in both Urban and Rural areas and the efficiency of the company has drastically improved from the days when one had to wait for years to get a phone connection to now when one can get a connection in even hours. Pre-activated Mobile connections are available at many places across India. BSNL has also unveiled very cost-effective Broadband internet access plans (DataOne) targeted at homes and small businesses. At present BSNL enjoy's 47% of market share of ISP services. [1]
BSNL plans to add 20 million subscribers annually for the next three years, and to achieve customer base of 120 million by 2008. With the frantic activity in the communication sector in India, the target appears achievable, however due to intense competition in Indian Telecom sector in recent past BSNL's growth has slowed down. Today, BSNL is India's largest Telco and one of the largest Public Sector Undertaking of the country with authorized share capital of $ 3977 million and networth of $ 14.32 billion.
From April 01, 2006 to November 30, 2006 BSNL has added 4.4 million new customers in various telephone services. BSNL is set to achieve magical number of 60 million customer base sometime in December 2006, a figure which has never been achieved by any Indian Telecom Operator. BSNL's nearest competitor Bharati (Airtel) is standing at a customer base of 30 million. However despite impressive growth shown by BSNL in recent times, the Fixed line customer base of BSNL is declining. However, BSNL has brought down long distance calling rate under OneIndia plan to woo back the fixed line customers.
[edit] Recent News
BSNL is in the process of finalising a Mega tender for rollout of 60 million GSM lines. The tender has invited a controversy, when one of the bidders Motorola was disqualified by BSNL on technical grounds and Motorola has approached the court. BSNL has been allowed to process the tender, however, the Court has restrained BSNL from awarding the tender, till December 14, 2006. [2] [3] [4]
