Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has reported a widening of consolidated loss to Rs 81.61 billion during the fiscal year (FY) 2023, as against a loss of Rs 69.82 billion during FY22. The increase in consolidated loss for the state-run operator during the year is attributed to the provision for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the government.
During the year, the company made a provision of AGR dues worth Rs 176.88 billion and received viability gap funding of Rs 161.89 billion. Owing to this adjustment, the company showed an exceptional loss of Rs 14.99 billion, which increased its total net losses. Further, the operator’s total expenses rose 5.1 per cent to Rs 273.64 billion. Of this, employee cost, which includes salaries, wages, allowances, and other benefits, was at Rs 79.52 billion, an increase of 11 per cent from FY22.
However, BSNL registered a 14 per cent growth in revenue from operations, surpassing the government’s target. During FY23, its revenue from operations stood at Rs 191.30 billion, compared to Rs 168.11 billion in FY22. For FY23, the company had a revenue target of Rs 171.61 billion based on its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The growth in revenue was primarily led by an increase in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), leased line businesses and other operating income of the company. The revenue from the FTTH business grew 30 per cent to Rs 20.71 billion. Mobile services, which contribute 29 per cent to the telco’s revenue from operations, witnessed a 7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase at Rs 56.38 billion in FY23. The government has set the revenue target of the company at Rs 200.08 billion in FY24. For FY25 and FY26, the company has revenue targets of Rs 244.28 billion and Rs 284.76 billion, respectively.
With regards to circle-wise performance, Kerala is the highest revenue-generating circle for BSNL. However, the circle was amongst the nine non-performing circles with a fall in revenue during FY23. The revenue from Kerala fell nearly 2 per cent to Rs 16.56 billion. Other circles which witnessed a fall in revenue were Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, Uttar Pradesh (West), Gujarat, Chennai, and Telangana.
As of March 2023, BSNL’s wireless subscriber base stood at 103.6 million, which is the lowest among all four operational telecom operators. In the last 15 months till March 2023, the company lost nearly 11 million subscribers.
