The government owned telecom company BSNL clocked a profit of ₹262 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2024-25. This is the first time in 17 years that the company has come back in the black. The last time BSNL was profitable in any quarter was in 2007. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia provided this information on Friday, February 14. Department of Telecommunication (DoT) posted Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's statement regrading the same on its social media handle 'X': BSNL recorded highest growth in FTTH segment In October-December 2024, the telecom's revenue from mobility service increased by 15%, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) revenue increased by 18%, and revenue from leased line service increased by 14% compared to the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, in the last four years, BSNL's EBITDA has doubled from ₹1,100 crore to approximately ₹2,100 crore. Reducing costs helped decrease losses by ₹1,800 crore Communications Minister Scindia stated, "The company has reduced its finance cost and overall expenditure in the current financial year resulting in a reduction of more than ₹1,800 crore of losses." He said that the public telecom's customer base also increased to 90 million (9 crore) in the December quarter. In June, it was 84 million (8.4 crore.) BSNL will establish 1,00,000 towers to provide 4G services On 4G connectivity, Scindia stated that the company is now moving towards providing 4G services to all its customers across the country. Out of the targeted 1,00,000 towers, approximately 75,000 towers have been installed, and about 60,000 have also become functional. He said that the government expected that all 1,00,000 towers would be operational by June this year. Scindia mentioned that this is a significant turning point for BSNL. The once defunct telecom has recorded improvements in several areas. This included growth in mobility, FTTH, and leased line service offerings. BiTV – free entertainment for all mobile customers To enhance customer experience, BSNL has introduced services like National WiFi Roaming, BiTV – free entertainment for all mobile customers, IFTV for all FTTH customers, inter alias. BSNL was once the number one mobile operator Former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, launched BSNL mobile service from Lucknow on October 19, 2002. Within just 1-2 years of its launch, it had become India's number one mobile service provider. Private operators had rolled out mobile services months before its launch, but the demand for BSNL's 'CellOne' brand had left them all behind. When BSNL's services were rolled out, private operators used to charge ₹16 per minute for calls and also ₹8 per minute for incoming calls. The state owned telecom made incoming calls free and the price of outgoing calls became one and a half rupees. The period from 2002-2005 was a golden era for BSNL. Everyone wanted a BSNL SIM. People used to queue up 3-7 kilometers to grab its SIM. Why did BSNL end up in such a mess?Original Article