Days after BSNL Employees Union wrote to PM Narendra Modi, requesting him to drop the BSNL-MTNL merger as it “will do irreparable damage to revival of BSNL”, the government on Wednesday said that the proposed merger has been deferred.
Citing “financial reasons including the high debt of MTNL” as the reason behind putting off the merger, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan informed the Parliament about the same in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
He stated that the government had approved Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited’s (MTNL) revival plan on October 23, 2019. It included an in-principle approval for the merger among other things.
However, it is under examination and stands deferred at the moment.
A Parliamentary Panel had earlier suggested recommended the Department of Telecom (DoT) to take into account the carving out MTNL’s debt and assets worth over Rs 26,500 crore into a special purpose vehicle and then merge it with BSNL.
The DoT apprised the committee of the projected net loss of BSNL, which is due to the absence of 4G services, landline revenue fall, lack of funds for capital expenditure.
BSNL was given a sum of Rs 44,720 crore to implement the revival measures during 2022-23 and another Rs 23,270 crore for the cost of 4G spectrum in 2022-23.
Indigenous 4G telecom network
In line with this, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw earlier today announced that the indigenous 4G telecom network will soon be rolled out across India with the BSNL planning to install about 1.12 lakh towers throughout the country.
He added that the BSNL is in the process of ordering 6,000 towers immediately and then 6,000 more and finally 1 lakh to be installed all over the country for the 4G network.
