Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) generates significant revenue by leasing out its telecom infrastructure to private telecom operators. Since the fiscal year 2020, BSNL has consistently earned over Rs 1,000 crore annually from leasing mobile towers, with only one year deviating from this trend.
Revenue Trends
In the fiscal year 2024, BSNL accrued Rs 1,055.80 crore from leasing its infrastructure. This is a substantial increase from the Rs 30.73 crore received in FY11, highlighting the growing importance of this revenue stream for the telecom operator.
Key Lessees
Reliance Jio is the largest lessee, utilizing the majority of BSNL’s mobile towers. As of March 31, 2024, BSNL had a total of 67,340 mobile towers across India. Among these, 12,502 towers have been leased to various entities, including private telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi), and Bharti Airtel, as well as state-government police and MTNL. Specifically, Reliance Jio leases 8,408 towers, Vodafone Idea leases 1,568 towers, and Bharti Airtel leases 2,415 towers.
Quality of Service
According to Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, the Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, BSNL’s mobile and landline services are performing satisfactorily and are meeting most Quality of Service (QoS) parameters as outlined in the Performance Monitoring Report (PMR) by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This was confirmed in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
Infrastructure Upgrades
BSNL is actively upgrading its telecom infrastructure with equipment from Tejas Networks, aiming to enhance its 4G capabilities. The operator has set an ambitious target to launch 4G services at 1 lakh sites by June 2025.
