BSNL sets aside Rs 4,300 cr for this fiscal; plans 75K WiFi spots

Government-run telecom company BSNL has set aside a huge fund of around Rs 4,300 crore for capital expenditure in this fiscal, and has also planned to have 75,000 wifi hotspots in the country by end of the next fiscal.

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"BSNL presence is must for healthy competition in the industry and benefit of consumers. They have installed around 5,000 wifi hotspots, going to install 35,000 more wifi hotspots this fiscal and planning another 35,000 to provide quality service to consumers," Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said at a book release and network expansion function of the company.

He added that the country has seen fierce competition between leading telcos, and BSNL has been very competitive and supportive for consumers throughout the battle.

"If we see data usage of past few days in the country, I believe we may have surpassed data usage level by consumers in the US and China. People were paying earlier Rs 200 per GB for data and now they are getting 1 GB for around Rs 10. This is good for consumers," Sinha added.

As per BSNL Chairman and MD Anupam Shrivastava, they have installed around 5,000 wifi hotspots in partnership with two private companies, and would be investing Rs 600 crore this fiscal for next 35,000 wifi hotspots.

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"L&T has won contract for rolling out 20,000 wifi hotspots and HFCL will install another 15,000 hotspots. We have provision for 100% expansion of wifi hotspots in next fiscal too but the cost will be less," Shrivastava said.

"We have total capex plan of about Rs 4,300 crore for this fiscal. We are annually spending around Rs 4,000 crore in capex from our own resources. This does not include funds that we get from the government for other projects," he added.

(Image source Goa Prism)