BSNL to ramp up mobile broadband capacity to 600 terabyte to take on Rjio

The telecom sector is witnessing unprecedented hustling-bustling post-Reliance Jio’s official launch. The telecom players hitherto in the backseat have also decided to play the game upfront now and are taking the competition head-on. One such player is state-owned telecom firm BSNL that is planning to ramp up its mobile broadband capacity by up to two-fold to 600 terabytes in a month.

"We are seeing an enormous increase in usage of mobile data on our network. We will be increasing our data network capacity to deliver high-speed 3G and other services. In South, we will double the capacity to 600 TB and in other zones, it will be up to 450 TB by November," BSNL Chairman and MD Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.

Notably, BSNL did not participate in the recently concluded spectrum auction and is making efforts to monetise its existing mobile airwaves.

The loss-making state-run company recently launched unlimited 3G scheme for Rs 1,099 which is one of the key reasons for the increase in demand for mobile data on BSNL network. The plan offers unlimited access to 3G without any speed restriction for a period of 30 days.

"In 2012, data usage on BSNL network was around 80 TB. After recent unlimited 3G Internet scheme, we have seen a sudden jump in data usage. In July it was around 279 TB which has now gone up to 353 TB," Shrivastava said.

He said that average data download per customer under the plan has been around 2.2 GB which means 66 GB per customer in a month. This corresponds to storing of around 100 Bollywood movies in a month in medium resolution on smartphones.

On the other hand, at a price of around Rs 1,100, a private telecom operators data download limit is in the range of 7GB to 11 GB.