Govt plans ₹47,000-crore capex push for BSNL to boost network, expand customer base

The government is ready with another ₹47,000 crore capital expenditure plan for state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) as it pushes ahead with network expansion, the Department of Telecommunications said on X.

"We have another close to Rs 47,000 crore capex plan in place for BSNL. Meanwhile, BSNL has done its highest-ever capex of Rs 25,000 crore during last year," the DoT quoted Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as saying.

BSNL has already spent ₹25,000 crore in the last year for installing 1 lakh towers for 4G mobile services.

IT services major Tata Consultancy Services and a C-DoT-led consortium secured a bulk of the supply orders under the ₹25,000 crore project executed last year.

Scindia has asked BSNL to add customers and grow its mobile service business by 50% over the next year.

The minister has also asked each unit to increase enterprise business by 25-30% and fixed line business by a minimum of 15-20%.

BSNL marked a major turnaround in its financial performance for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, reporting its first back-to-back profitable quarters and a sharp reduction in annual losses.

BSNL posted a profit after tax (PAT) of ₹280 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25, following a ₹262 crore profit in Q3, according to the Ministry of Communications. This is a stark reversal from the ₹849 crore loss reported in Q4 of FY24.

"For the first time in 18 years, back-to-back quarterly profits, net profits, not operating profit alone, not even the positive margin alone, but net profit on a quarterly basis for the second time running after 2007," Scindia had said.

The public sector telecom company reduced its net loss by 58% to ₹2,247 crore in FY25, down from ₹5,370 crore in the previous fiscal.