History of BSNL

Keywords: bsnl history, bsnl company history, introduction of bsnl

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation Limited) is a public sector telecommunication company in India. It was formed in October, 2000, and was in a number of World’s 7th largest Telecommunications Company.

It providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India: Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services etc. Within a span of five years it became one of the largest public sector unit in India.

 BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages and wining customer’s confidence.

Today, it has about 46 million line basic telephone capacity, 8 million WLL capacity, 52 Million GSM Capacity, more than 38302 fixed exchanges, 46565 BTS, 3895 Node B ( 3G BTS), 287 Satellite Stations, 614755 Rkm of OFC Cable, 50430 Rkm of Microwave Network connecting 602 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.6 Lakhs villages. CellOne, BSNL cellular service, has 55,140,282 2G cellular customers and 88,493 3G customers as on 30.11.2009. It has more than 2.5 million WLL subscribers and 2.5 million Internet Customers who access Internet through various modes viz. Dial-up, Leased Line, DIAS, Account Less Internet(CLI) and also been adjudged as the NUMBER ONE ISP in the country.

At present there are 0.6 million DataOne broadband customers. BSNL has vast experience in Planning, Installation, network integration and Maintenance of Switching & Transmission Networks and also has a world class ISO 9000 certified Telecom Training Institute and It has footprints throughout India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL.

History of BSNL

The foundation of telecom network in India was laid by British sometime in 19th century. The history of BSNL linked with the beginning of telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 29th century, the telecom of India was operated as a government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile post and Telegraph department (P&T). In 1975 the Department of Telecom(DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was responsible for running of telecom service in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run out the telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai . It is a well known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to provide level playing field to private telecoms. Subsequently in 1990 the telecom sector was opened up by the government for the private investment, therefore it became necessary to separate the government’s policy wings from operations wings. The government of India corporatized the operation wing of DoT on October 01, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and then onward BSNL operates as a public sector.

Identification of performance issue

As per the financial report of this year 2009-2010, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is in the position of bleeds. BSNL reported a net loss of Rs 182.3 million for 2009-10, as against Rs 57.5 million net profit in the previous year. (The Indian Express ltd., 2010)

The company’s total revenues also plunged by over 10 per cent during the year at Rs 3204.5 million (both from services and other income), compared to Rs 3581.2 million in 2008-09.This is the first-ever loss registered by the PSU since its inception in October 2000, when it was spun off the Department of Telecom (DoT). (The Indian Express ltd., 2010)

And not only this after the system called Mobile number portability (MNP) which was launched in current year which enables customers to migrate to a different operator without changing their phone number and in this also within a month BSNL ported out 2, 23,824 customers while only 92,243 ported into its network after the implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) services in the country. (writer, n.d.)

Reasons of issue

As BSNL reported a loss and it’s a big issue to come up with. So we have to take some serious action to eradicate or can say reduce it otherwise our company will be in a phase of decline or bankrupt. So, I acknowledge the failure on our part to address the critical issues is quality of service and customer interface as this occurs due to deficiency in company’s two major sector which is I.T and HR sector as I.T sector covered one of the critical issue i.e. quality of service as thought process and innovative ideas are completely missing and customer interface are coming under HR sector which means problem in man power and not only this two problems BSNL also facing problems on account of leadership issue , no accountability , non performers and workers are not identified and also management is not able to withstand political pressure in crucial policy matters which decide the future of BSNL such as tenders, all the prestigious projects such as CDR, ERP, GSM, NGN etc are getting delayed  and Management not taking any concrete step to expedite their smooth implementation. Tenders are taking years together for finalization and BSNL not even thought about e-tendering and can say this all is because of lack of efficiency of man power from the top to bottom level of employees and these above problems turns company in loss from profits. (SANCHAR NIGAM EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION (INDIA), 2010)

Methods for the identification of performance issue

I undergo certain detailing from comparative profit and loss account of year 2010, 2009 and there are several methods of communication to identify performance issue like past Meetings, Newspapers news, Articles, Internet phone, Video conferencing, Television news channels etc.

I took Meeting that was already held, Newspapers and Articles and took the most common views of all to take a decision where the company is lacking behind. The detailed views are as follows:

Meeting (SANCHAR NIGAM EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION (INDIA), 2010)

Newspapers (The Indian Express ltd., 2010) (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, 2010) (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., 2010)

Articles (Press Trust of India, 2010) (Press Trust of India, 2010) (Zee News Limited, n.d.) (Thomas Reuters, n.d.) (writer, n.d.) (Admin, n.d.)

And for internal communication to M.D, there are also several methods available as it called Business communication methods i.e. Audio tape , Video tape , CD-ROM , Letters , Memos , Reports , Manuals , Printed materials , Fax , E-Mail , Intranet , One to ones ,Meeting and Phone. (Fastrak Consulting Ltd., n.d.)

I chosen a Letter writing method which is one of the best method of communication as per me to report to MD about the performance issue identified and the reasons which are in detail attached in appendix.

Development of the communication methods

As the methods were taken above i.e. going through comparative profit and loss account, meeting, news papers and articles to identify where the company is lacking behind? But the methods were not sufficient enough to come on any conclusion which was analyzed by our MD after he took a look on the report prepared by me and he was the one who suggested for the survey method to take a clearer view of the scenario.

Then as per my MD I took survey method to come over with a improved conclusion as it cover customers personal views which is the most important for any company to know what the customer wants and what are the loop holes of the company.

So as per views of some of the people whom we are taking into account under survey are poor customer services compare to other competitors, poor network connectivities , do not care of existing customers, do not ask for feedback from the customers regarding their services , lack of value added services and lack of promotional scheme and not only this they also did some complaints such as BSNL landline is not working , voice is quite not cleared in line, STD line jammed, SIM rejected, Broadband connection not yet given, land line not working from last 10 days, unable to call to customer care from other network phones. (Jhanwar, 2011)

These above all are the major issues where BSNL is lacking as per the survey. So in turn the major problem is of company’s customer services and quality of services which is said earlier the problem of manpower and I.T sector which is also holding by employees.

And for this the company has to focus on its HR department where the employees are recruited. the company have to recruit good candidates who added value of the company not those who felt company in loss and for this they will have to take candidates who cleared the interview and best fit for the post not as per earlier where BSNL just tested candidate’s knowledge and selected without ascertaining their personality. Neither any interview nor any GD was done and this was criticized by many as lots of inefficient people got themselves into the BSNL which is showing in its overall performance.

Analysis the issue through different framework

SWOT Analysis of BSNL

As per the weaknesses of our company like Bharti airtel and Reliance to turn around and attract more BSNL customers, no promotion for ‘cheap voice calls, such as call now, data one prepaid cards, occasional fixed phone problem due to BSNL operations, Complaints about customer services provided by BSNL and problems with BSNL Broadband Infrastructure which I declared in report in SWOT analysis of 2010 and also by analyzing it, I came out with the same issue solving problem which I have already mentioned and which I was found out through the different communication methods i.e. specifically problems are come under I.T and H.R department which are the same as declared above to solve and which are need to be taken seriously to come up with flying colors in future.

Conclusion

The above case is not just the represent of loss but how a problem in the HR and I.T department can lead to a financial loss which tells that all the departments inside an organization are linked with each other no matter problem is in which department but all the departments are affected through it.

The issue has been identified and evaluated through different modes of communications so that there are proper evidences of what is presented really does exist instead of all this, there were methods added by the MD and I performed the method in order to satisfy him and give him a clear view of the problem so that he can take appropriate action according to the situation so that the company can gain its position back in the industry.

He suggested to go for the survey method which was quite time taking and lengthy but still ok to get a clearer result and the results were similar to what other communication methods revealed but the views came from the consumer side which obviously gives an advantage because knowing what the customers want we can do better with their choices.

As per my best knowledge and research .I identified the problem of performance issue of the company to come up with the loss by undertaking different methods to take out the major problems, where the company is lacking behind and what to do to eradicate it. So as per my hopes and beliefs this will help MD of our company to take actions and as per me the information that I have researched and provided are sufficient and achievable for the objectives of performance issue for which a company required to stand in a market and repositioning itself as before and this have to take seriously as it is a major performance issue and the most challenging one also.