The Hindu Business Line : Bharti overtakes BSNL in NLD segment

Bharti Airtel has overtaken State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd as the largest national long distance service provider in terms of revenue. According to a report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Bharti is now the largest STD service provider with revenues of Rs 709 crore during the quarter ending December 2007.

BSNL, which was a monopoly in this sector until 2002, has dropped to second spot with revenues of Rs 700 crore during the same period. Reliance Communication is at the third spot with revenues of Rs 567 crore.

Shift to mobiles

Bharti’s lead over BSNL has been primarily due to shift in usage from fixed line telephones to mobile phones. While there are tariff plans being offered by mobile operators, which allows its mobile subscribers to make STD calls at Re 1 per minute, domestic long distance calls on fixed line phones are still charged at around Rs 3 per minute.

Private operators said that the revenue lead over BSNL could have been be higher if they were allowed to carry intra circle long distance traffic. BSNL and private telcos are involved in a dispute over this issue with the former staking claim to carry all STD calls within a Circle.

The Government has so far supported BSNL’s stance but the private operators are hopeful that this segment would be thrown open.

Global market

There is also a very close fight in the international long distance segment.

Tata managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd is barely holding to its lead position after it lost monopoly status 5 years ago.

VSNL raked in Rs 588 crore during the quarter ending December 2007 followed closely by Bharti Airtel with revenues of Rs 583 crore. Reliance is again in the third spot with revenues of Rs 452 crore.

The new entrants in this segment such as BT, AT&T and Sify are way behind since they are not targeting the high volume retail customers.

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