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After 17yrs, BSNL has finally reported two profitable quarters - Rs 262cr and Rs 280cr of consolidated profit in Q3 and Q4 FY25. But, one should be asking how this was achieved 🙏🙏 Once you deepdive, things come out very different. Let’s understand what has happened! .. Two decades ago, BSNL earned ~Rs 36k crore in topline - 60% came from landlines. But, landlines are hardly used as prevalently. Thus, that revenue is now down to less than Rs 1k crore. That’s about 5% of its massive size, and frankly, nothing could be done about it. Except one thing - Double down on two other major revenue generators. 1 - Mobile services 2 - Broadband services And this is where BSNL really lost. .. You see, everyone talks about how BSNL was left behind in 4G upgradation and thus lost subscribers after Jio democratised 4G. And they are right. But, simultaneously, BSNL also lost its domination in the broadband internet market. - From 2006-08, BSNL’s broadband revenue jumped multifold to reach Rs 1k crore topline - Then to Rs 2.5k crore in the next 2yrs. Then to Rs 4k crore topline in 2013. And finally to Rs 5.8k crore in 2017 But, after Jio democratised 4G, the topline shrank every year. So much, that last year, BSNL’s broadband business generated ~Rs 300-400cr only - half of those in 2006. .. Then, how come the profits now? Three things. First, headcount reduction (not layoffs, as some influencers have time and again misinformed others)! BSNL had 2.4 lakh employees in 2014. Via back-to-back voluntary retirement schemes that’s down to ~55k, cutting BSNL’s biggest cost centre, human resources expenses. - And BSNL did not pay the thousands of crores spent on VRS, but Govt (taxpayer) did - Thus, that isn’t counted in the losses - Govt is set to spend another Rs 15k crore for another VRS to give exit to another 18- 19k employees Second, it has been on a spree to sell its land and buildings. And that’s bringing in big money quarter, which is getting added to profits. Third, they have also deferred Rs 1,042cr to of its employee expenses to ‘Capital Work in Progress’ in FY25. .. Thus, firstly, even if that third bit is taken into account, it’s clear that BSNL has not turned profitable. Second, it can’t keep selling land and buildings to no end. Thus, those quarterly bonanzas will come to an end sooner or later. Third, how many more people can you reduce on the payrolls? This is why, while BSNL is logging profits for the first time in 17yrs, one should know, that this is nothing because of what the company is doing.