India telco looks to outsource

In a bid to turn around its current financial difficulties, state-owned Indian telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is examining cutting costs and boosting revenue by outsourcing its tower management coupled with the auctioning off of spare fiber-optic bandwidth, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal reported that operating and maintaining its existing tower infrastructure – which comprises around 60,000 towers – accounts for the telco’s second-largest expense.

BSNL has invited comments from prospective partners. They are due Jan. 23, after which the operator is expected to publish a bid document for those companies interested in the potential tie-up.

The Journal cited BSNL’s chairman and managing director Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay, saying the telco is planning to offer a three-year contract, with an option to extend for a further two years.

Along with the tower outsourcing plans, Upadhyay confirmed that BSNL plans to auction spare bandwidth on its fiber-optic infrastructure. Such a sale could generate around USD134 million. Having identified the amount of bandwidth it will need for the next five years, and therefore the additional bandwidth that could be made available to other operators, the executive noted.