BSNL Ernakulam is targeting a turnover of Rs. 600 crore for the current fiscal. During the last financial year, the Ernakulam secondary switching area (SSA) of BSNL, which covers Ernakulam and Idukki districts besides Lakshadweep, registered a turnover of Rs. 450 crore, up by 15 per cent over the previous year’s.
“In the landline sector alone, the revenue earned by Ernakulam SSA was Rs. 297 crore, which is Rs. 12 crore more than the previous year’s revenue. The profit for landline sector is Rs. 51 crore, which is Rs. 22 crore over the previous year’s,” G. Muraleedharan, the Principal General Manager of BSNL Ernakulam, told reporters here on Friday.
Mr. Muraleedharan said BSNL Ernakulam provided 6,206 landline connections, 3,541 broadband connections and 54,000 mobile connections in the first quarter from April to June, 2014. The revenue of landline sector during this period was 16 percent (Rs 50 crore as against Rs 43 crore) more than the figures in the corresponding period last year, he said.
While 9,938 cellphone users ported into BSNL under the SSA using mobile number portability in the first quarter, 3,944 cellphone customers ported out.
Mr. Muraleedharan said an ‘online payment experience centre’ was launched at the customer care centre of BSNL Bhavan in Ernakulam to educate and encourage more customers to make bill payments online.
By dialling the toll free number 1800-425-1177, landline users can register their mobile number with BSNL in order to receive their landline and broadband bill details and fault docket and status through SMS, he said.
Besides the existing 52 customer care centres, BSNL Ernakulam has plans to open 25 more in the current fiscal.
Mr. Muraleedharan said the state-of-the-art fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) is fast gaining currency, with over 100 new connections given every month.
While BSNL Ernakulam commissioned 18 3G and 13 2G towers in the first quarter of the current fiscal, work is afoot to launch 41 3G and 13 2G towers.
On the recent media reports of BSNL ignoring customers at the lowest-end, Mr. Muraleedharan said while the company doesn’t cold-shoulder anyone, it has always done customer categorisation to avoid traffic congestion. “This is done to ensure that those who make maximum use of the network are not grouped together,” he said.
