BSNL will be investing around Rs. 1,800 crore to set up 70,000 WiFi hotspots all across the country. USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) will provide a fund of Rs. 900 crore, which will include three years of operation and maintenance for setting up of another 25,000 WiFi hotspots.
The 25,000 WiFi hotspots will mainly focus rural areas, and the financial support for all the rural Wi-Fi hotspots will be provided by USOF.
They are all ready to set up 1 lakh Wi-Fi Hotspots across the country by the end of March 2019. Chairman and MD, Anupam Shrivastava confirmed this during the launch of GST Solutions Application for BSNL customers.
For another 5000 WiFi hotspots, they are working on a revenue share basis with a partner. BSNL will not invest any capital for it. The company will only provide bandwidth for these 5000 hotspots.
BSNL GST Solutions Service
State owned BSNL has launched a new GST solutions service for BSNL customers, GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) Service.
The GST Suvidha Provider Service is an exclusive collaboration between Masters India and BSNL, to provide assistance to the BSNL customers on the several procedures involved in GST, Anupam Shrivastava said.
The new GST service is an additional perk to BSNL customers, so that they choose to remain with the telco in this Jio-Cannibalization period. This will even attract more customers, as they have a new set of aggressive data plans ready (BSNL’s Unlimited Plan is surprisingly cheaper than Jio) with their new GST Solution Service.
The GST Suvidha Provider Service will be free of cost for BSNL customers. Any BSNL user can avail the service by visiting ‘www.bsnlgst.mastersindia.co website. The users are required to register themselves by using their own account numbers.
After they have registered with their account number on the website, they can straightaway start filing returns. The GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) Service has been divided in three different categories;
- Basic Plan – Free of cost and can be availed for up to 2,000 invoices in a year.
- Plus Plan – Costs Rs. 1,999 per year and can be availed for up to 6000 invoices in a year, which will include additional benefits.
- Pro Plan – Meant for Enterprises and will cost Rs. 1,999 per year. The company will have to pay a charge of Re. 1 per invoice beyond the limit of 6,000 invoices generated in a year.
Masters India will be providing the GST software to the customers of the GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) Service. ‘Masters India’ is one of the thirty four organizations selected by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).
At a time, when Jio is changing the dynamics of doing business in the Indian telecom market and the tariffs are hitting rock bottom, telcos have to explore other avenues of generating revenue, or soon they will be out of the competition.
The new GST filing service by BSNL in collaboration with Masters India will help the state-owned firm to attract more customers and generate more revenue.