BSNL Gets Rs 82,916 Crore in Budget, Will Upgrade Network

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a government telecom company that has been facing losses for the last few years, has been allocated Rs 82,916 crore in this year’s budget. In the budget, about Rs 1.28 lakh crore has been allocated for telecom projects and government companies under the Telecom Ministry. A large part of this has been given to BSNL.

In the budget allocation given to the Telecom Ministry, about Rs 17,510 crore is for the pension of the employees of the Department of Telecom (DoT). The central government can hand over the operations of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), which provides telecom services in the capital Delhi and Mumbai, to BSNL through an agreement. Earlier, the option of merging MTNL with BSNL was also considered. A final decision in this regard can be taken soon.

Given the high debt on MTNL, its merger with BSNL would not be the right option. After a decision is taken on this, the proposal will be placed before the Committee of Secretaries. After getting approval from this committee, this proposal will go to the Union Cabinet. In a recent filing, MTNL had said that it cannot pay interest to some bondholders due to lack of sufficient funds.

BSNL is also facing difficulties. Recently, a request was made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the company. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) had said that the presence of BSNL is important to control the dominance of private telecom companies in pricing. In a letter to Prime Minister Modi, BMS had requested that the government ensure that BSNL gets permission to use 4G and 5G equipment from international vendors until indigenous technology is developed. BMS General Secretary, Ravindra Himte had said in this letter that the presence of BSNL as a telecom company providing 4G and 5G services is in the interest of the country and the common people. He had said that due to the absence of new mobile services, the company is losing subscribers. Recently the company has started 4G service.