Government has said that substitution of fixed line telephone by mobile phones which offers greater flexibility in usage is main reason behind the decline in landline telephone connections of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). However, this is not so in case of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).

Giving this information in the Lok Sabha Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology sad that surrender of extra wireline telephone connection where multiple connections are available in same premises is also one of the reasons for the decline in landline connections.

BSNL has 9.94 million wireline broadband connections and MTNL has 1.15 million wireline broadband connections.  BSNL and MTNL are providing broadband on various technologies viz. Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), 3G, EVDO (Evolution Data Only) etc. BSNL is deploying Wi-Max (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology also for providing broadband.

Sibal said that to BSNL and MTNL are strengthening of sales and distribution channel of landline and broadband connections and Introducing various attractive tariff plans & improved marketing strategies to enhance attractiveness of landline connections and improve quality of service:

He said that both the state owned companies are making all out efforts to retain landline customers and increase their utility by providing several Value Added Services including broadband services, Intelligent Network Services and broadband based value added services like Video/Games/Music on demand  etc.