BSNL's losses narrow to Rs 5,371 cr in FY24, reports y-o-y rise in EBITDA

New Delhi: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has reported on-year rise in its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation or EBITDA to Rs 2,164 crore for FY24, while losses narrowed to Rs 5,371 crore, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

As a result of packages and measures by the government, BSNL/MTNL have started earning operating profits from FY 2020-21, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

In line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, BSNL has placed a purchase order for 1 lakh 4G sites for deployment of indigenous 4G technology, Sekhar said, adding that the equipment is upgradable to 5G.

According to the details of last five years' performance of BSNL shared by the Minister, EBITDA stood at Rs 2,164 crore in FY24, 38.8 per cent more than a year ago.

The loss narrowed to Rs 5,371 crore in FY24, from Rs 8,161 crore in FY23.

To another question on data breach in BSNL, the Minister said Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported possible intrusion and data breach at BSNL on May 20, 2024.

"The same was analysed and found that one File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server was having the data similar to the sample data shared by CERT-In. No breach into the Home Location Register (HLR) of the telecom network has been reported by the equipment manufacturer, hence no service outage in BSNL's network," he said.

However, as a remedial measure to prevent such probable breach, BSNL has taken steps, and access passwords to all similar FTP servers have been changed.

"Further, an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted to conduct an audit of the telecom networks and suggest remedial measures for prevention of data breaches in the Telecom networks," Sekhar said.

The Minister further said that the government has taken various steps for the revival of BSNL and MTNL.

In 2019, the first revival package amounting to around Rs 69,000 crore brought down the operating costs of BSNL/MTNL.

In 2022, a revival package amounting to around Rs 1.64 lakh crore was given. It focused on infusing fresh capital, restructuring debt, viability gap funding for rural telephony among others.

In 2023, the government approved the allotment of 4G/5G spectrum to BSNL with a total outlay of around Rs 89,000 crore.