BSNL, MTNL may scrap BlackBerry services over losses

Unlike private telcos, the two do not have a high subscriber base, particularly of enterprises using BlackBerry services, so stoppage is not going to be of major inconvenience to anyone

New Delhi

February 16, 2015 00:45 IST

State-run telecom operators BSNL and MTNL may scrap their BlackBerry services as they are incurring losses and are in no position to spend on the software to provide interception services to intelligence agencies.

Unlike private telcos, the two do not have a high subscriber base, particularly of enterprises using BlackBerry services, so stoppage is not going to be of major inconvenience to anyone.

Naresh Kumar Gupta, director (consumer fixed access) at BSNL, told FE: “We are trying to see if Blackberry mobile services makes a business case for us. We are weighing the pros and cons. A service may not be making a business case for us but we can continue to offer such services despite losses given the brand it carries. But there is definitely a loss. Whether the loss outweighs the brand (BlackBerry) or whether the brand outweighs losses, that is being examined”.

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According to Gupta there are around 15,000 subscribers using BlackBerry services.

Though PK Purwar, the chairman and managing director of MTNL, expressed his ignorance in this regard, a senior MTNL official said the matter related to Blackberry operations is being discussed. There are close to 7,000 BlackBerry subscribers. “We have few BlackBerry users.

There are overhead costs which comes with this services. We are working it out,” said Purwar.

BSNL loses around Rs 15 crore every year on BlackBerry services.