BSNL-BBNL merger nears completion

The merger between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL) is on the road to completion. It is reported that the public sector unit has already transferred BBNL employees into BSNL.

Also, BSNL has already started utilising the fiber network laid out under the BharatNet project to provide rural connectivity. An official said, “The merger is complete for all practical purposes, BSNL has already taken over maintenance and operations of BBNL. Only a skeletal team remains with the corporate handling past business.”

The Prime Minister approved the merger of the two PSUs, BSNL and BBNL in July. Apart from this, the Government also approved a package of Rs 1.64 lakh crore for the revival of BSNL. Therefore, BSNL will now be managing and operating the 5-lakh km fiber network of BharatNet, in addition to their homegrown 8lakh km fiber network already deployed.

BBNL is a telecom infrastructure provider set up by the government in 2012 to provide rural broadband connectivity to every gram panchayat. While BBNL claims that nearly 2.5 lakh gram panchayats have been covered under the optic fiber project and nearly Rs 42,000 crore has been spent on the network, the project continued to give poor returns.