DoT seeks review of BSNL’s subscriber & revenue growth for FY26

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), as part of an annual performance review of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), has sought details regarding active subscribers (VLR) and overall subscribers (HLR), along with circle-wise revenue and market share trends of consumer fixed wireless access (CFA), fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), and enterprise segments for the last 12 months.

The telecom department, in a letter dated March 17, 2026, to the BSNL CMD, has also sought clarity about the recent transfer of IT Project Circle (ITPC) officials from Hyderabad and whether due diligence was followed, as well as details of issued advance purchase orders (APOs)/purchase orders (POs) and their compliance with tender-related processes.
ETTelecom has reviewed a copy of the letter. The public sector telco has been asked to provide details by March 27.

The DoT additionally asked BSNL to furnish details about the ₹1 plan, including objectives and reasons for discontinuation from February 1, 2026, along with measures taken for cost reduction in SIM procurement, including eSIM promotion and advance procurement at competitive rates.

This comes at a time when the telecom PSU is banking on its fourth-generation (4G) mobile network to enhance subscriber experience and boost revenue by about 20%, following nationwide availability.

A Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium, that includes the home-bred Tejas Networks, has deployed 1 lakh 4G sites for BSNL, with plans afoot for another 20,000 sites.
BSNL posted an EBITDA (core operating profit) of ₹4,858 crore cumulatively in the nine months ending December 31, 2025, of fiscal year 2026, growing by 105% compared to the corresponding period a year ago, Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said in February this year.

The public sector telco has also recorded a revenue of ₹17,705 crore in the first three quarters of FY26, a rise of 13% over the corresponding periods in the previous period.

The Centre has set a target to increase the telecom carrier’s revenue by 20% for the full year to ₹27,500 crore.

In the October quarter of FY26 (Q2FY26), BSNL posted an average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹91, compared to ₹81 in Q1FY26.
BSNL gained 0.27 million subscribers in January 2026, pushing up its total tally to 93.02 million subscribers, according to the latest sectoral data put out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Among operators, Reliance Jio Infocomm remained the largest wireless service provider with 491.48 million subscribers in January, followed by Bharti Airtel (467.79 million), and Vodafone Idea (198.35 million), the telecom regulator’s data showed.

Total telephone subscribers, including wireline and wireless, increased by 7.86 million in January to 1.314 billion. Wireless subscribers accounted for most of the growth, rising by 7.57 million to 1.266 billion, while wireline users grew by 0.29 million to 47.66 million, according to TRAI.