Government-owned BSNL has posted a 31.84 per cent growth in wireless subscribers in Calcutta in May despite operational challenges on account of the lockdown and cyclone Amphan.

Total wireless subscribers for BSNL in Calcutta increased to 21,27,898 in May 2020 from 16,13,991 in May last year, according to data from telecom regulator Trai.

Compared with April, BSNL added 22,855 subscribers in May.

According to BSNL officials, the addition in the subscriber base is despite the operator not offering 4G services unlike its private peers.

“We have reworked sales and marketing. Earlier, BSNL did not have retail managers. Now we have posted retail managers in different areas. Their job is to work with the franchisees and retailers and expand the customer base,” Biswajit Paul, chief general manager, Calcutta Telephones, told The Telegraph.

“We have also cut the time required to fix technical problems at BTS (base transceiver stations) and lower network downtime,” he said.

Paul added that as an aftermath of the cyclone around 60 per cent of the network was affected. It took about a month’s time for the PSU to bring back stability.