State-run telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which is the 5th largest player in terms of mobile phone subscribers in India, has said that it is aiming to regain its number one spot following its se 7 of network expansion.

BSNL Chairman and Managing Director RK Upadhyay said, "We are currently expanding our network by around 15 million lines which is called phase 7 of network expansion. In the next round of expansion, which will be phase 8, we will give real push to be number 1 in the industry." He was speaking on the side-lines of its Enterprise Cloud Services launch with Dimension Data.

The company began expanding its network after a period of five years. BSNL had a 14.62 per cent market share with around 9.71 crore mobile subscribers as of April, 2013, according to the ddata released by the GSM industry body COAI. Mr. Upadhyay said that following the completion of phase 7 expansion, BSNL will aim to attain the number one position in four to five service area.

The telecom firm was in the second position in terms of the number of users in Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala and it was third in eight service areas by April, 2013.