State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has continued its loss trajectory for the second straight quarter within the present monetary yr after a short return to profitability in final two quarters of fiscal 2025.
Within the September quarter, BSNL reported a internet lack of ₹1,357 crore, wider than ₹1,048 crore within the previous quarter and the ₹1,241.7 crore it misplaced within the year-ago quarter, the corporate’s monetary statements dated 14 November present.
BSNL’s increased losses might be attributed to a rise in depreciation and amortization bills and finance price for the corporate. Depreciation and amortization within the quarter passed by stood at ₹2,477 crore, 57% greater than the determine for the year-ago quarter. It was 14.5% extra that the previous quarter.
The corporate’s income from operations throughout the quarter rose 2.8% sequentially and 6.6% year-on-year to ₹5,166.7 crore largely led by improve in revenues from cell phone companies on the again of a launch of 4G companies by the corporate.
BSNL has 92.3 million cellular subscribers at end-September, Scindia had mentioned final month. This may rank it behind larger rivals Reliance Jio’s 506 million, Bharti Airtel (364 million), and Vodaone Concept (196.7 million).
Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had flagged the expanded depreciation at a media briefing final month. “We (BSNL) could not have the ability to see that run fee of profitability going ahead, as the corporate did a capex of ₹25,000 crore in FY25 and there shall be a near ₹2,500 crore non-cash hit to the bottomline because of depreciation,” Scindia had mentioned then.
BSNL has set a goal to develop revenues by 20% in FY26 to ₹27,500 crore. It had posted a income of round ₹23,000 crore in FY25.
Mint has reached out to BSNL and the division of telecommunications (DoT) for feedback. The story shall be up to date accordingly.
Wages capitalized
Notably, worker payments which used to represent the very best 43% of the corporate’s income from operations within the year-ago interval now accounts for 37% of the corporate’s income. This took place with the change within the firm’s follow final yr to maneuver worker bills in the direction of ‘Capital Work-in-Progress’ (CWIP).
In response to Mint’s queries in Might, BSNL had clarified that “it is not uncommon within the telecom trade to capitalize related overheads during times of enormous community enlargement”.
When any firm identifies a specific mission of capital nature, all bills associated to which are capitalised. It would transfer to a revenue and loss assertion (P&L) beneath depreciation solely after the mission begins producing income.
The corporate’s income from the enterprises service enterprise fell 10% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to ₹1,321.7 crore. The income from the enterprise, nonetheless, rose 0.9% YoY.
The state-run telecom operator noticed its common income per person (Arpu) rise 12% to ₹91 in July-September from ₹81 within the previous quarter, Scindia had mentioned.
Arpu is a measure of a telecom firm’s incomes per buyer on a median over a selected interval, reminiscent of a month. The nationwide 4G service rollout has led to increased revenues and a gentle uptick in subscriber additions for BSNL.
Within the first half of the present monetary yr, the corporate’s income from operations rose 10.4% to ₹10,193 crore. The corporate’s loss narrowed to ₹2,404.8 crore from ₹2,952 crore.
After being in testing part for lengthy, BSNL launched its 4G companies on India-made know-how on 26 September with over 92,000 towers. Of its whole subscriber base of 91.7 million as of August finish, the corporate serves greater than 20 million 4G customers throughout the nation.
After reporting income for 2 consecutive quarters for the primary time in 18 years, BSNL was again within the crimson, with a internet lack of ₹1,049 crore within the June quarter. It had posted a internet revenue of ₹280 crore within the March quarter and ₹262 crore within the December quarter.
