In an attempt to boost the landline business, on Thursday, state run BSNL announced unlimited free calling scheme. This unlimited free calling scheme is applicable only during the night hours from fixed line phones to mobile phone connections belonging to any operator and located anywhere in the country starting from May 1.
Basically, this scheme will be operational in the time period between 9 PM and 7 AM and it will cover all type of phone connections, claimed BSNL in an official statement.
Furthermore, Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL claimed that they are modernizing their landline business and they like to revive it. He added the copper cable lines will support landline traffic and that they have procured millions of landline instruments to cater to the demand of the customers. He further claimed that there is no end date for the scheme right now and it will be reviewed after a period of six months.
This free unlimited calling scheme is applicable on all the major landline general plans in both the urban and rural areas, landline special and major combos such as landline with broadband.
Regarding this newly announced free unlimited calling scheme, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP Partner Hemant Joshi claimed that there has been a negative growth in the wireline for the past few years. He stated that this scheme of providing free calls at night will definitely provide a growth of the fixed line that stands at 27 million connections right now in comparison to the 960 million wireless connections in the country.
As per the most recent TRAI data, BSNL dominating the landline space has been the biggest loser of its fixed line customers in the month of February when Airtel popped up as the top gainer in the market. The firm had more than 1.66 crore landlines in the end of February. Dispute the loss of 1,62,556 landline users in the month of February, the firm has ruled the market with a market share of 62.26 percent.
