Centre to merge BBNL with BSNL

The government is planning to merge Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with the loss-making state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) this month.

With the proposed merger, BSNL will get 5.67 lakh kilometres of optical fibre, which has been laid across 1.85 lakh village panchayats in the country using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). BSNL already has a network of over 6.8 lakh kilometres of optical fibre cable network.

At a recent event organised by the All-India Graduate Engineers and Telecom officers Association (AIGETOA), BSNL Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar said that the government is giving the telecom firm an opportunity for a turnaround.

“The government has decided that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level will come to BSNL,” Purwar said.

The state governments do not levy the right of way (RoW) charge on laying OFC by the BBNL, which helps it save a significant amount compared to the fees that telecom operators are required to pay. Telecom operators must pay an 8 percent licence fee on their revenue from the sale of telecom services which includes a 5 per cent levy for USOF.

Few BBNL officials said that employees in the department are not in favour of the proposed merger due to the non-performance of BSNL on the Bharatnet project in the past and pending dues of vendors despite payment already made to the state-run telecom firm by the SPV.