Communications minister A Raja has had it his way. The BSNL board has agreed on installing 23 million 2G lines. The contenders will be Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks(NSN). So if nothing else changes, Ericsson will have to set up 13.8 million lines, while NSN will do the balance 9.2 million.
Obviously BSNL will seek lower prices from the two vendors and they will get that.
So what happens to the 3G component? Well, going in true government style, there will be another tender for 3G. Going by the pace at which such things happen, it will take another year before everything is finally sorted out. Add another six months for installation provided there is no hue and cry. So, by that logic, state-owned BSNL will be able to provide 3G services only in early 2009. By then, most private operators would have rolled out services.
But, that could be a blessing in disguise for BSNL if the entire debate over spectrum allocation is not settled till then. Does that still justify the time it took for BSNL to come to a solution? Obviously, BSNL officials will have to speed up operations despite the hassles they face from a plethora of government bodies (Central Vigilance Commission, CBI, CAG etc). Only then can BSNL be in a position to keep pace with private operators.
In June 2007, while the GSM operators added 5.38 million new subscribers, BSNL added just 0.43 million, which is a shade better than Aircel's 0.37 million. That's way below Bharti's 1.96 million, Vodafone Essar's 1.54 million, IDEA Cellular's 0.86 million new adds in June. BSNL's share in the GSM market has also fallen to 20.90%, while Vodafone Essar has increased to 22.61%.
It's high time BSNL got its act in place. Or else it could end up being one more chapter in India's telecom history.
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