Do you remember the names of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Sanchar Nigam Limited (MTNL)? If you remember the period from 2000 to 2008, both these institutions were the ones where there used to be long queues to get a SIM. People used to wait, the turn to get SIM used to come very late. People who got numbers like 9415 considered themselves VIPs. This was the same period when mobile phones gradually started appearing in people’s pockets in India. Some had Motorola phones, some had Nokia phones. This was the same period when people were fond of calling mobile phones as cellphones instead of mobiles.
This was the golden era of BSNL-MTNL. Private telecom companies were already present in India. Modi Telstra had come in the year 1995 itself. In the year 1995, Sunil Mittal’s company started GSM network service under the AirTel brand in Delhi circle. This continues till today. Then came BPL. Hutchison Max was launched in 1995, then Escotel, Birla Anti&T, Spice Telecom, Aircel came into existence.
These companies were doing good work. Call rates were expensive, one had to pay for receiving, calling charges were up to Rs 17. MTNL-Dolphin was launched in the year 2001. It was a government company, facilities have started in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. BSNL-Selvan knocked in the year 2002. This was a government undertaking.
On one hand, private telecom companies were struggling, while BSNL and MTNL had become dominant from metros to remote rural areas. The company’s tagline then was ‘Connecting India’
The journey from everywhere network to ‘nowhere’ network
People used to say, go anywhere, you will get BSNL network. Be it Nepal-Siddharthnagar border or borders like Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bhutan, its signals were reaching. At many places this was done only for strategic reasons. BSNL has been the only operator with a presence in many strategic and difficult border areas. Now the picture shows that government telecom companies are marginalized and more than 94 percent of the market is now dominated by the private sector.
92.5% market in telecom sector is in private hands
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on October 12, 2026 released the Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for the quarter April to June 2026. According to the report, by June 30, 2026, the share of private operators in the total telecom customers of the country was 92.50 percent. Public sector operators have only 7.50 percent customers.
The total number of telephone subscribers in the country stood at 1,330.58 million at the end of March 2026. By the end of June 2026, it increased to 1,348.08 million, about Rs 134.81 crore. This is an increase of 1.31 percent on quarterly basis. The total tele-density of the country increased from 93.26 percent to 94.31 percent.
What is the private stake in wireless and wireline?
The share of private operators in wireless i.e. mobile and fixed wireless access services is 92.83 percent. The stake of government companies is 7.17 percent. The total number of wireless subscribers increased from 1,282.33 million at the end of March 2026 to 1,300.25 million at the end of June 2026. 17.92 million new customers were added in this quarter.
The picture is different in wireline i.e. landline and fixed connections. Here the share of government operators is 16.59 percent and that of private operators is 83.41 percent. Wireline subscribers declined from 48.25 million in March 2026 to 47.82 million in June 2026. This is a decline of 0.88 percent in the quarter
What are the earnings figures telling?
On the earnings front, the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom sector stood at Rs 88,796 crore in the June 2026 quarter. There was an increase of 2.40 percent compared to the previous quarter. The share of government companies in AGR of access services is 2.92 percent. The average monthly earnings per subscriber (ARPU) of the wireless service increased to Rs 187.12 from Rs 184.91. Average monthly data usage per customer increased from 26.70 GB to 28.39 GB. Total internet subscribers in the country have reached 1,114.17 million, of which 1,087.50 million are broadband subscribers.
Why are BNSL-MTNL marginalised?
Khabargaon spoke to a director level officer of BSNL. He enumerated the achievements but when asked about the shortcomings, he requested that the names not be published. He said, ‘Our plight is not due to lack of any technology, but due to laziness of policy makers and corruption of big officials. When private companies were openly running in the race of 4G and 5G, we were pleading for spectrum and necessary equipment, stuck in files and approvals. In every disaster, the work of our capable engineers, who were the first to restore the network by risking their lives, was limited. We could not upgrade ourselves.
The official said, ‘Many reasons for this have been given in the government’s replies in Parliament and the report of the parliamentary committee. The Department of Telecommunications has told the committee that the main reasons for BSNL’s losses are the absence of 4G service, decline in earnings from landlines and lack of money for expenses. In the year 2018-19, the then Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said in the Lok Sabha that 74 percent of BSNL’s revenue went towards the salaries of employees, whereas in private companies it is less than 10 percent
Government companies are lagging behind in technology
It is about July 2022. The then Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had said that Rs 24,000 crore kept for 4G in the 2019 package could not be given because BSNL did not have the technology ready. BSNL itself had cited price war and shortage of 4G spectrum as the reasons for its poor condition.
An official said, ‘Voluntary retirement scheme was introduced in the year 2019 to reduce salary expenses. According to the answer given in the Lok Sabha on March 10, 2021, 78,569 employees of BSNL and 14,387 employees of MTNL took VRS. Due to this, the salary expense of BSNL reduced by about 50 percent and that of MTNL by 75 percent. It was expected that now the money would be spent on expansion. The results did not come as expected.
The condition of MTNL was bad in a different way. PK Purwar, the then CMD of BSNL and MTNL, told a parliamentary committee in 2022 that MTNL had a debt of more than Rs 26,000 crore and its revenue was only Rs 1,300 crore. According to TRAI data, by March 2023, MTNL’s wireless share was only 0.21 percent. The government told Parliament that MTNL’s merger with BSNL has been postponed due to financial reasons, including its high debt. Many reasons for this have been given in the government’s answers in Parliament and the report of the parliamentary committee.
The Department of Telecommunications told the committee that the main reasons for BSNL’s losses were non-availability of 4G service, decline in earnings from landlines and lack of money for capital expenditure. The then Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said in the Lok Sabha that in 2018-19, 74 percent of BSNL’s revenue went towards the salaries of employees, whereas in private companies it is less than 10 percent.
When private companies were running in the 5G race, BSNL could not even enter the 2G-3G race. According to TRAI data, BSNL’s market share had declined from 19 percent in March 2009 to 9.7 percent in January 2019. In July 2022, Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had told that Rs 24,000 crore kept for 4G in the 2019 package could not be given because BSNL did not have the technology ready. BSNL itself had cited price war and shortage of 4G spectrum as the reasons for its poor condition.
Does BSNL turn a blind eye to mistakes?
In April 2025, CAG said in its report that BSNL did not properly implement the Master Service Agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited. BSNL did not bill for the additional technology used on its shared passive infrastructure. Due to this, the government suffered a loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore and interest thereon from May 2014 to March 2024.
BSNL did not comply with the terms of the agreement and also did not invoke the escalation clause. This led to a further loss of Rs 29 crore in the form of infrastructure sharing charges. BSNL did not even deduct the share of license fee from the revenue distributed to telecom infrastructure providers. Due to this the company suffered an additional loss of Rs 38.36 crore.
In a reply given in the Rajya Sabha, in 2025, Minister of State for Telecom P Chandra Shekhar had said that BSNL has placed purchase orders for one lakh 4G sites. Of these, 83,993 sites have been installed and as of March 8, 74,521 sites have become operational. The minister said that due to late start of 4G services and tough competition in the mobile sector, BSNL’s income is being affected.
Will BSNL be able to recover?
The Government of India, Ministry of Communications, Department of Telecommunications told the Lok Sabha on August 5, 2026 that under Self-reliant India, BSNL has installed 98,550 indigenous 4G sites across the country by July 25, 2026 out of a scheme of Rs. 1 lakh, out of which 97,174 sites are on-air.
Under BharatNet project, approval has been given to provide broadband connectivity to all gram panchayats. Under the revised BharatNet programme, work is underway to upgrade the existing network and extend the network to new gram panchayats and villages as per need.
By June 30, 2026, 43,908 km of optical fiber cable has been laid and 13,494 gram panchayats have been upgraded. There are 9,75,402 active fiber-based connections from BharatNet across the country.
Out of 33,409 planned 4G towers, 23,426 towers have gone on-air by June 30, 2026 under mobile connectivity projects funded from the Digital India Fund. These also include towers in border districts and left wing extremism affected districts. The government says that the 4G saturation project is on track.