By Binu Paul, SiliconIndia
Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 06:07 IST |
Bangalore: Ever since the arrival of private telecom service providers after the liberalization of Indian economy in 1991, the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd(BSNL) has been desperately looking for measures to keep its customer base intact. The company has not been able to grow in line with the market and has been steadily losing its market share.
BSNL which is the forefront provider of telephony services in rural India, is gradually losing it's market share to leading private operators. The company started the PCO revolution in the country and took the mammoth task of providing telephony service in the rural India which was then a nonviable business for the private providers. Now with the wireline services taking a backseat and wireless is flourishing, BSNL's wireless service's growth has been declining despite its very low tariffs. In December 2009, BSNL had 22.4 million rural subscribers, as compared to 20.9 million in September 2009 which was only a 7 percent growth. Airtel had 43.2 million subscribers in December 2009, as compared to 38.5 million in September that year, scoring a 13 percent growth. Vodafone also registered an 11 percent growth in the same period.
The process of selecting a Chairman & Managing Directors (CMD) of BSNL and MTNL is still on. The new search-cum-selection panel scrapped the earlier list and invited applications for the posts. The old committee had come under controversy as BSNL employees Union challenged the process and selection made by old search panel in the Delhi High Court. The government then formed a new panel with Sam Pitroda as the lead and included UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani, T K Nair, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar in the panel.
Adding to its woes, the recently introduced Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has hit hard at BSNL and MTNL. BSNL's subscriber base declined by 131,581 customers while MTNL lost nearly 5,869 customers after MNP was introduced. In an effort to arrest the erosion in their user base, both the companies have come up with measures to address customer grievances and improve service quality apart from additional incentives to distributors and retailers.
Lack of concentration or the unbearable slowness on addressing customer grievances have also led to the loss of customer base in urban areas. While the private players give upmost importance to satisfaction, a response from the BSNL customer cell would take days to reach the customers. This has forced many users to opt for private providers.
BSNL had engaged the service of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help develop an overall strategy and transformation plan for the organization. According to BCG's revival plan, the telecom operator has decided to focus on four key operations such as consumer mobility, broadband, enterprise business and new business which includes infrastructure sharing.
Apart from the above aspects, BSNL also has to find ways to change its typical style of operation as a state-run organization, slow in processing customer request and implementation of policies, inefficiency, high level of bureaucracy, and the heavy unionism. It has to find ways to retain its number one position in the market and the trust of its customers by providing prompt, efficient, and courteous service. The firm also should identify the product changes needed to give it a competitive edge in the market with quality products and services at fair and reasonable rates. It should establish an efficient business processes enabled by strong IT backup. The company should create a team of excellent capacity to lead the marketing, sales and distribution of its products. It should also work on more interesting and result oriented promotional activities to expand its mobile network and rural reach. Appropriate career planning and training should be given to its employees and should readdress their grievances to create a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance.
The process of selecting a Chairman & Managing Directors (CMD) of BSNL and MTNL is still on. The new search-cum-selection panel scrapped the earlier list and invited applications for the posts. The old committee had come under controversy as BSNL employees Union challenged the process and selection made by old search panel in the Delhi High Court. The government then formed a new panel with Sam Pitroda as the lead and included UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani, T K Nair, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar in the panel.
Adding to its woes, the recently introduced Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has hit hard at BSNL and MTNL. BSNL's subscriber base declined by 131,581 customers while MTNL lost nearly 5,869 customers after MNP was introduced. In an effort to arrest the erosion in their user base, both the companies have come up with measures to address customer grievances and improve service quality apart from additional incentives to distributors and retailers.
Lack of concentration or the unbearable slowness on addressing customer grievances have also led to the loss of customer base in urban areas. While the private players give upmost importance to satisfaction, a response from the BSNL customer cell would take days to reach the customers. This has forced many users to opt for private providers.
BSNL had engaged the service of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help develop an overall strategy and transformation plan for the organization. According to BCG's revival plan, the telecom operator has decided to focus on four key operations such as consumer mobility, broadband, enterprise business and new business which includes infrastructure sharing.
Apart from the above aspects, BSNL also has to find ways to change its typical style of operation as a state-run organization, slow in processing customer request and implementation of policies, inefficiency, high level of bureaucracy, and the heavy unionism. It has to find ways to retain its number one position in the market and the trust of its customers by providing prompt, efficient, and courteous service. The firm also should identify the product changes needed to give it a competitive edge in the market with quality products and services at fair and reasonable rates. It should establish an efficient business processes enabled by strong IT backup. The company should create a team of excellent capacity to lead the marketing, sales and distribution of its products. It should also work on more interesting and result oriented promotional activities to expand its mobile network and rural reach. Appropriate career planning and training should be given to its employees and should readdress their grievances to create a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance.
Some Feed backs / Comments for this Article by the Public:
1. If BSNL loose, ultimately WE, INDIANS loose. Because, as some body pointed out, it is just because of the presence of BSNL, that the telecom rates are still competitive. If it was only Reliance and Airtel it would be Incoming Calls Charged at Rs 9 per Minute . So let us SAVE BSNL...........................
2. The core reason for the poor state is the Management and No check from Government. The BSNL is managed by ITS. They are not leaving the BSNL and not absorbing in BSNL. The TOP managers managing in CIRCLES are on verge on retirement and thus having no creativity and interest in work. They are only working on NUMBER GAME. No one is interested in Revenues. The ITS culture is that sub ordinates (ITS) always say "YES SIR" wheather it is RIGHT or WRONG. More over most of the schemes and Plans are created in "A.C. ROOMs' far away from customers and no suggestion are taken from field units. Most of the managers believe in "WE DONT WANT INTELLIGENT OFFICERS and WORKERS but WE WANT OBEYING AND CHAMMACH STAFF". Therefor it is very essensial to replace the TOP manager and prefarebly from MARKET PROFESSIONALS............................
3. There is no management at Corporate office ,Circle HQ and at SSA HQs. No co-ordination among different wings. Corruptions at all levels. Civil and Electrical wings siphoning off the money alloted to them.Lack of proper HR policy except for ITS officers but they are not part of BSNL.Perhaps they are afraid of absorbtion in BSNL as they know that BSNL can not survive.For survival of BSNL dynamic, professional management are need of the hour.Proper HR policy,proper business policies are to be taken at the appropriate time.Moreover customer care must be improved and graviences must be redressed at the earliest possible time............................
4. Major problem lies in the ITS officers who are not part of BSNL. They are only interested buying new equipments which are of poor quality and thereby getting their commission.U can see that difference between a reliance CDMA land phone and BSNL CDMA landphone..Also no marketing at all.It is difficult to find a recharge coupon for BSNL in towns itself.No even a single ads now a days when others operators are having an atleast one ad per commerical break............................
5. These ITS should be banned from functioning in BSNL as they are govt officers, if they are allowed to be in BSNL they should "AUTOMATICALLY" treated as "ABSORBED EMPLOYEES" as it seems already its the case of ABSORBTION is time barred and somebody can go to court and immediately bar the ITS from SITTING IN BSNL as GOVT PEOPLE. ...........................
6.There is no management at Corporate office ,Circle HQ and at SSA HQs. No co-ordination among different wings. Corruptions at all levels. Civil and Electrical wings siphoning off the money alloted to them.Lack of proper HR policy except for ITS officers but they are not part of BSNL.Perhaps they are afraid of absorbtion in BSNL as they know that BSNL can not survive.For survival of BSNL dynamic, professional management are need of the hour.Proper HR policy,proper business policies are to be taken at the appropriate time.Moreover customer care must be improved and graviences must be redressed at the earliest possible time.................
4. Major problem lies in the ITS officers who are not part of BSNL. They are only interested buying new equipments which are of poor quality and thereby getting their commission.U can see that difference between a reliance CDMA land phone and BSNL CDMA landphone..Also no marketing at all.It is difficult to find a recharge coupon for BSNL in towns itself.No even a single ads now a days when others operators are having an atleast one ad per commerical break............................
5. These ITS should be banned from functioning in BSNL as they are govt officers, if they are allowed to be in BSNL they should "AUTOMATICALLY" treated as "ABSORBED EMPLOYEES" as it seems already its the case of ABSORBTION is time barred and somebody can go to court and immediately bar the ITS from SITTING IN BSNL as GOVT PEOPLE. ...........................
6.There is no management at Corporate office ,Circle HQ and at SSA HQs. No co-ordination among different wings. Corruptions at all levels. Civil and Electrical wings siphoning off the money alloted to them.Lack of proper HR policy except for ITS officers but they are not part of BSNL.Perhaps they are afraid of absorbtion in BSNL as they know that BSNL can not survive.For survival of BSNL dynamic, professional management are need of the hour.Proper HR policy,proper business policies are to be taken at the appropriate time.Moreover customer care must be improved and graviences must be redressed at the earliest possible time.................
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