2024-07-22 14:49:51
New Delhi: Private telecom companies have recently increased their tariffs. Initial trends show that government telecom company BSNL has benefited from this. Many people are turning to BSNL for cheaper plans. BSNL hopes that this will help it recover from losses. Ever since Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea have increased their prices, BSNL has got a lot of new customers. BSNL has said that from July 3-4, about 2.5 lakh people have ported their numbers from other companies to BSNL. Apart from this, BSNL has also added 25 lakh new connections. BSNL officials say that they are getting new customers because their plans are still affordable. Many people, especially those with low income, still consider BSNL plans to be better.
Prices have been increased from 11% to 25%
Private companies have increased their prices by 11% to 25%. For example, the cheapest plan of Airtel and Vodafone for 28 days is now priced at Rs 199, while Jio’s similar plan is available for Rs 189. On the other hand, a similar plan of BSNL is available for just Rs 108. Even BSNL has 4-5 plans between Rs 107 and Rs 199, which are much cheaper than other companies. However, Jio has not increased the prices of its JioPhone plan.
Experts believe that even though BSNL’s plans are cheap, the quality of network and services also matters to retain customers. Since BSNL has not yet fully launched 4G services, adding new customers and retaining old ones may be a challenge for them.
An analyst, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Some people will definitely be joining BSNL due to the price hike, but they will only take low-cost plans.” Experts say that BSNL will be able to compete with the big companies only when it has good quality 4G services all over the country.
Customers’ departure from BSNL is temporary
Another analyst said that the departure of customers to BSNL may be temporary. This is natural after any price hike. It will have very little impact on the earnings of private companies.
According to Ankit Jain, sector head of rating agency ICRA, ‘The increase in prices will definitely increase the bills of customers of private companies, due to which some low-income customers may turn to the government company BSNL. However, its number is not expected to be very high. This will not have any major impact on the revenue or profits of these three companies.’
After the price hike, the BSNL Employees Union had complained to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia that this would cause problems for the common man. The union wrote in its letter that earlier BSNL used to control the prices in the market in a way, but due to the lack of 4G and 5G, it is now unable to compete.