Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state-run telecom service provider, plans to focus on increasing local content, at it looks at inking content deals with several video streaming platforms, Vivek Dua, GM, broadband services, told FEBrandWagon. The company on Monday announced its tie-up with video over-the-top (OTT) platform YuppTV. “As the viewing preference changes every 100 km thanks to the diversity India enjoys as a country, it is important to have local content,” Dua added. The telecom firm claims to be working with a local streaming platform in Kerala and two in Tamil Nadu, the names of which it plans to announce soon.

The tie-up with BSNL will now allow YuppTV to deliver content on the former’s range of network starting from 2.5G to 4G on mobile, besides fixed-line. Video streaming platform YuppTV currently provides content in 12 languages to South Asians living in the US, UK, Europe, among others.

Additionally, the state-run telecom operator claims to concentrate on the delivery of personalised content to its consumers. According to the firm, in the last six months, the tie-ups with streaming platforms such as Amazon, Netflix and Hotstar have allowed it to work on personalisation and deliver select content to its users. “Such should be the system that we should be aware of what customers want. All partnership that we are getting into fundamentally works on the premise that one must how to best use BSNL’s network and provide personalised content. This helps in saving time,” Dua explained. State-run telecom operators BSNL and MTNL lost 0.21 million and 6,701 subscribers in August, respectively, as per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) latest report. The total number of wireless subscribers increased by 2.68 million to 1.17 billion in August.

As per him, the tie-up with Hotstar is an interesting one, as it allows BSNL to charge its consumers on the basis of per day, as against a monthly bill. “BSNL’s IT system has been integrated with that of Hotstar’s. This has allowed us to bill customers on the basis of per day consumption of content. For example, if a customer watches content on Hotstar for 17 days, we charge her for those 17 days,” he said.

Meanwhile, BSNL’s revival package is expected to be announced in a month’s time. The telecom operator reported a net loss of Rs 13,804 crore in FY19.