BackBSNL finalizes GSM tender, to invest Rs22,880 cr this fiscal
BSNL finalizes GSM tender, to invest Rs22,880 cr this fiscal
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New Delhi: State-run telecom firm BSNL on 7 September said it has finalized the tender for adding 22.75 million GSM lines to Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens and is set to add two million connections a month from next year.
The company’s new chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal also said BSNL generated a revenue of around Rs39,715 crore and net profit of about Rs7,806 crore in 2006-07.
BSNL would be investing ₹ 22,880 crore in 2007-08 for expanding telecom services, he added.
While Ericsson has accepted the Letter of Intent for laying 13.125 million lines, an offer would soon be given to Nokia for adding a capacity of 9.675 million GSM lines.
Goyal said the company would be adding up to two million connections every month, beginning January 2008.
Goyal said BSNL would be adding nearly 10.5 million phone subscribers in 2007-08, comprising 8.8 million mobile and 1.65 fixed line connections.
In the last fiscal, about 5,83,000 users surrendered their fixed line connections, but the number of mobile subscribers rose by about 10.1 million. The net addition of subscribers was 9.5 million.
BSNL has a market share of 82.84% in fixed line connections with 35.963 million users, and 15.5% share in cellular services with 29.34 million customers.
Goyal also said the company planned to add around two million broadband connections this year and an additional 500 cities would be covered, taking the total number of cities to 1,500. The company also plans to add 0.8 million Internet connections this year, he added.
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