A day on an SSA: the 9-step new-connection flow, explained

This is what happens between a customer calling for a connection and BSNL sending them a welcome SMS. We’re skipping the marketing summary and walking the actual flow.

A new connection has nine steps in the FNW Flow app, because BSNL provisioning has nine inputs. Each step is small. The trap is that skipping one quietly produces a connection that’s installed but doesn’t bill — and the customer calls back in three days asking why their plan never started.

The nine steps, by what they actually do

1. Customer Details

Name, primary mobile, alternate mobile (optional), email, ID-proof type.

The validation work here is the boring part: phone format, email format, ID-proof selected. The interesting part is which ID proof. Aadhaar is the path of least resistance because the SSA already has the eKYC pipe. Driving licence is fine. Passport is fine but slow. PAN is not fine for FTTH — BSNL won’t accept it as the primary identity for a residential connection.

2. Address

PIN code drives the SSA resolution. Enter the PIN, the form pulls the SSA + exchange from the BSNL service-area lookup. If the lookup fails (rare), the operator can override the SSA manually — but that’s a flag. An overridden SSA means the rest of the form will validate against a different sub-net than the technician will actually install on.

3. Verify Mobile

OTP to the primary mobile. Six digits. Resend rate-limited to once a minute.

What this really does is confirm the customer can be reached at the number they gave. Faults later land on the same number. If the customer’s mobile is a family member’s number, the family member gets the fault SMSes — which can be a feature or a bug depending on the household.

4. Account Setup

The app generates the customer’s BSNL portal credentials — a CLLI-based username and a strong password. The operator can override the password if the customer prefers a memorable one.

Why mid-flow? Because BSNL submits the credentials with the provisioning request. There’s no “set password later” flow on BSNL’s side. Pick the password before submit, or live with the generated one.

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We made the mistake once of letting a customer pick their own password before installation. They forgot it by the time the connection was live.

5. Franchise

Confirm the franchise (your TIP) under which this connection is being booked. For TIPs operating across multiple SSAs, the picker shows only the franchises authorised for the resolved SSA.

This is the step where revenue share starts. The franchise selected here is the one that earns on the connection for the life of the customer. Pick wrong and it’s a refund + reissue later.

6. Select Plan

Bharat Fiber plan from BSNL’s live catalogue. Speed (download / upload), data cap (if any), validity, rental.

Pull the rental from the picker and read it back to the customer over the phone. They’ll forget. Then they’ll complain the rental changed.

7. Select Number

Pick the landline number from BSNL’s pool for the resolved exchange. The picker supports a “starts with” filter for customers who care about memorability — older customers especially.

The number gets reserved when picked (yellow → green chip). If you abandon the flow without submitting, BSNL releases the reservation after some minutes. Don’t walk away from a half-finished flow with a reserved number; come back to it.

8. Service Config

The technical step. ONU MAC, OLT, PON port, ONU number.

If the OLT is onboarded in FNW Flow (and it should be — see Add an OLT), the OLT picker autocompletes the PON port + ONU number once you pick the OLT and enter the MAC. If it’s not onboarded, you’re typing all four fields by hand, which is exactly when typos happen.

9. Review & Submit

The final summary screen shows every field from steps 1–8 in one column. Read it once. Read it again. Then submit.

BSNL returns one of three things:

• Accepted — connection is live within minutes. Customer’s welcome SMS lands.
• Validation error — one field is wrong. The error names which step. Fix and resubmit.
• BSNL timeout — the provisioning endpoint is slow. Retry in two minutes; your data is saved.

The shape of the day

For a TIP doing six new connections in a day, this flow runs twelve times — six successful submissions, six revisions or retries. That’s about ninety minutes of operator time and about ninety minutes of technician time. Most of that compresses to nothing if steps 1, 2, and 6 are right the first time.

The technician’s time is the expensive one. The operator’s time is recoverable. So the place to put rigour is the operator side: insist on the OTP verify, insist on the address from PIN, read the rental back to the customer before they hang up.

Step-by-step screenshots live in the training hub.