BSNL's ₹77,000 Crore Capex Plan Faces Parliamentary Hold

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has proposed a capital investment of ₹77,000 crore over five years to add 200,000 4G sites and roll out 5G in high-traffic areas. The parliamentary committee on communications and information technology wants the plan paused until a clear infrastructure-sharing agreement with Vodafone Idea is finalized, the Department of Telecommunications told the panel in a report dated August 6.

The committee questioned the operator's financial efficiency. BSNL's loss widened to ₹4,738 crore in FY26 from ₹2,247 crore a year earlier, DoT said. Revenue from operations rose 1.7% to ₹21,199 crore, well below the ₹28,476 crore target set under the memorandum of understanding between DoT and the state-owned telecom.

"The Committee are of the view that the Department and BSNL undertake a comprehensive expenditure rationalisation exercise, with special focus on controllable operational costs, increased sharing of mobile towers with other operators, network optimisation and prioritisation of high-revenue service segments such as 4G/5G rollout, enterprise services and fibre connectivity," the report said.

DoT responded that the wider loss was driven by depreciation and amortization expenses, which grew to ₹10,350 crore in FY26 from ₹6,283 crore in FY25. The company incurred its largest capital expenditure of ₹26,022 crore in FY25 for the 4G network rollout and network expansion. DoT told the panel the capex created an infrastructure foundation for future revenue growth and that BSNL is on a path to financial turnaround through network modernization, asset monetization, cost efficiency and enterprise focus.

BSNL had installed 105,290 4G indigenous sites by the end of April and is rolling out its 5G network in Delhi. The government has approved three revival packages for BSNL amounting to ₹3.22 trillion.

"Any capex plan will help improve revenue, this fresh capex should not be just like another capital infusion from the government, on which no accountability is set, and return on investment is not analyzed," said Satya N. Gupta, former principal adviser at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Gupta said BSNL could raise capital through land monetization and a real estate investment trust, converting its buildings into data centres to generate its own investment capital for better accountability.

The government is working on infrastructure-sharing arrangements between BSNL and Vodafone Idea, in which it holds a 49% stake. "There are active discussions to further enhance the tenancy of Vodafone Idea Limited on BSNL tower infrastructure for 4G and 5G," DoT told the panel. BSNL had leased out 1,441 towers to Vodafone Idea as of April, according to the report.

The committee told DoT to facilitate a structured and time-bound decision on comprehensive infrastructure-sharing between BSNL and Vodafone Idea. It asked for an analysis on sharing of towers, fibre, spectrum and other networks and estimated financial savings within six months.

"The Committee recommends that the proposed additional expenditure be reviewed and kept in abeyance until a clear decision on collaboration is finalised," the report said. DoT objected, saying that "BSNL collaborates with Vodafone Idea in the areas as mentioned above and is thus already rationalising its expenditure. Keeping additional expenditure completely at abeyance at this stage may adversely affect rollout of ongoing 4G project."

For collaboration opportunities, BSNL has identified areas including data centres, edge data infrastructure, 5G captive private networks, AI-enabled use-cases, cloud, Internet of Things and enterprise digital solutions. Both companies currently have intra-circle roaming agreements for Delhi and Mumbai on a revenue-sharing basis. BSNL also shares fibre links with Vodafone Idea under the BharatNet project and has fiberized nine base stations as part of a proof of concept.

In March, Mint first reported that Vodafone Idea and BSNL started talks on sharing towers, fibre and even spectrum after the parliamentary panel's intervention.