Leader in all services

Interview with A.K. Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director.

A.K. Sinha, who served as Senior Deputy Director-General (Switching) in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) corporate office before assuming charge as its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) in September 2004, has brought his knowledge of various telecom switching systems and other important aspects of telecommunications to India's largest telecom service provider.

Sinha joined the Indian Telecommunication Service in 1969 and has held the posts of General Manager (Development) in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited's (MTNL) corporate office and in MTNL, Delhi, and Chief General Manager of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Jharkhand Telecom Circles.

He has experience in the installation and commissioning of various switching systems in the networks of Calcutta and Delhi Telephones. As Divisional Engineer (Installation), he was instrumental in commissioning the first C-400 type Japanese telephone exchange in Calcutta Telephones and thereafter in MTNL, Delhi. He worked for three years in the Telecom Department of Nigeria.

Excerpts from an interview he gave Frontline:

How do you see BSNL's future as a leader in the telecommunications sector? In terms of growth, what is the key factor behind the entity's fiscal result for the previous year?

BSNL holds the top position in the telecom sector and will continue to do so. We have the unmatched footprints of our service spread across the country. Being one of the largest public sector enterprises, BSNL has always delivered targets taking into account the social and regional goals. Our last fiscal results give a clear picture of our continuous growth despite fierce competition. We are proud of our impressive growth of over 50 per cent. I believe over a period of time we have improved the delivery of our services, which is the most functional factor in awarding us significant growth.

Can you detail the steps being planned by BSNL to expand its service from basic to mobile telephony to broadband?

Despite the impressive strides [made in the sector] over the past few years, India has low teledensity compared to many other countries. Hence, we see a large potential in various States. The government has decided to double the teledensity from 10 per 100 people to 20 in the next three years. Public sector telecom units have been given the mandate to double their own networks. So, we are in the process of doubling the capacity and penetrating areas that have not yet been covered.

From covering all district headquarters, we plan to spread our footprints to all block headquarters. A 60 million GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications] equipment acquisition tender is already on as part of mobile telephony expansion plans. BSNL is also expanding its base in broadband services and hopes to add a million subscribers every year, changing the country's Internet usage. Also, BSNL's network is expected to reach all villages by 2007.

What are BSNL's landmark achievements in the current year?

It has broken all its past records by registering an impressive growth of 55.6 per cent in Direct Exchange Line. It registered a 9 per cent rise in its operative income. Apart from this, BSNL has added a large number of consumers, much more than its target, to its cellular and basic subscriber base and is doing remarkably well in broadband and village telephony.

In the growing competition among service providers, how does BSNL plan to stay in the top position?

BSNL is the leader in all service areas that it operates. Whether it is basic telephony or cellular or CDMA-based telephony or Internet. As I said earlier, we have an expansion plan for 60 million lines in mobile telephony alone.

In another three years, when the country's teledensity reaches 20 per 100 people, BSNL will have a 50 per cent market share. The rest of the players together will share the remaining market.

With our reach and footprint and expansion plans, we will still hold the leadership role in all areas of telecom service despite fierce competition in the market.

There appears to be a fair reduction in last year's waitlist. What steps are planned to clear the wait list?

In fiscal 2005-06, BSNL reduced the waitlist from 16.20 lakhs to 12.69 lakhs in both the landline and mobile sectors. As per our expansion plan, we are qualitatively improving our network with the introduction of state-of-the-art technology to meet the requirements. The 60-million expansion plan is aimed at clearing the waiting list as well as adding new areas and population to our network.

What is your expansion plan for the current fiscal?

Apart from the ongoing one, we plan to add 20 million GSM lines this year. Once the roll-out of the 60-million GSM tender happens, we will be able to launch 3G mobile phones. We hope to add a million broadband subscribers to our network. We are also taking steps to arrest the surrender of phones in our network.

Although there is a net increase in subscribers, we are launching a series of measures to make basic telephony more attractive. Above all, we plan to improve the quality of our services and our profits.

This year we expect to emerge as the largest mobile telephony operator in the country even in numbers, although we are not present in the two largest areas of operations - Delhi and Mumbai.