BSNL loosing fast on 7000 Cr PCO market

As per an article in economic times - "Years after acting as the original harbingers of the telecom revolution, the yellow and black brand ambassadors of BSNL and MTNL have started losing out to the fancier red and blue phone booths of private operators. The change has been so dramatic that with private players collectively commanding 56% share of the Rs 7,000-crore PCO market. PCO owners have been moving away from the state-owned telecom companies for a number of reasons such as inadequate marketing, legacy networks and less enticing commissions. According to a survey conducted by the telecom regulator Trai, BSNL saw a reduction of 10,518 PCOs during the quarter ended December 31, 2006, while the number for MTNL was 1,543. At the same time private operators are rapidly adding to their numbers with Tata TeleServices (TTSL) adding 81,239 and Reliance Communications adding 1,20,855 PCOs during the same period. Other private operators like Bharti Airtel, HFCL and Shyam Telelink have also been growing their PCO business in recent times. What makes the slump even more painful for government companies is the fact that this is both an extremely fast growing and lucrative segment in the telecom space. The October-December 2006 quarter saw a total addition of 1.83 lakh new PCOs, taking the total number of PCOs in the country to over 53 lakh. But more than volume growth it is also a high-value business. TTSL business access unit head Vikas Shah points out that the average revenue from a PCO is almost four times the blended ARPU (average revenue per user) from a mobile subscriber. The Tatas-owned telco plans to triple the revenues from the PCO business. The segment contributed around 25% to its revenues in FY07 and is expected to go up to 30% this fiscal. "