Asia Bizz: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has reported losses in the past two years and is looking reportedly forward to cut the costs and earn additional revenue by outsourcing its telecom tower management. BSNL will also be auctioning the spare fiber optic bandwidth.
In terms of the users, BSNL is the India’s fifth largest telecom company and is these days struggling to compete with the existing private companies like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Group who have added users at a faster pace. The rising staff expenses and high network operations add to the trouble for BSNL.
BSNL has 96 million mobile phone subscribers and 23.31 million fixed land line users. The maintenance and operating of its 60,000 telecom towers add up to the second largest expenses after the staff costs.
The company has now invited comments from prospective partners till January 23, 2012. After January 23, the state owned company will bid document for people seeking to partner to the company. Initially, the company plans to offer the contract for a period of three years with an option t0o be extended for another two years. The exact savings of the company will be calculated only after they receive inputs from the prospective bidders.
