Low tariff lowered BSNL, MTNL revenues: Pilot

NEW DELHI, INDIA: State-owned telcos Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) were forced to reduce their tariffs due to intense market competition and this led to their revenues declining, parliament was informed on Monday.

The decline was followed by a reduction in the fixed line subscribers and a fall in the average revenue per user (ARPU), Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

BSNL's revenue in the first six months of fiscal 2010-11 till September 30 was Rs.138 billion against Rs.328 billion during the entire 2007-08 fiscal.

At the same time, the revenue collected by MTNL declined from Rs.41 billion during 2007-08 to Rs.18 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal.

Pilot said that BSNL has restructured its organisation and stregthened its marketing, sales and distribution channels to increase its revenue collection. The company is also making efforts to improve customer care department.

The telco is also laying emphasis on value added services and other streams like 3G, broadband and data centre services for increasing revenue.

MTNL has also launched new services like 3G, 3G Data Card and Internet Protocol Television for enhancing its revenue, Pilot said.