GoI allocates Rs.6,463 Crore Fund for Telecom PSUs

For telecom public sector units like BSNL, MTNL, ITI, C-DoT and TCIL, an amount of Rs.6,463.65 crore has been allocated by the Government of India as a total expenditure target for this fiscal.

According to the sources, the Government has allocated Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) for BSNL at Rs.5,132.19 crore, MTNL at Rs.808.46 crore, ITI at Rs.461 crore, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) at Rs.60 crore, Rs.1 crore each for HPIL and Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL).

On surrendering Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum, BSNL will also get Rs.100 crore as refund of upfront charges.

For laying out the optical fibre-based network for Defence Services, the Government has assigned Rs.2,760 crore. The project is under supervision of BSNL. The telecom operator last month issued an advance purchase order of around Rs.8,678 crore for 10-year contract to five companies for supplying and deploying optical fibres for the communication network of defence forces.

Besides this, the Government has also earmarked Rs.461 crore to Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited for revival and Rs.3,537 crore to Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) which is responsible for  increasing telecom service penetration in rural.

Allocation of Rs.1 crore is made to Hemisphere Properties India limited (HPIL) indicating progress in resolving surplus land issue of VSNL, now Tata Communications. Tata Communications had acquired the PSU in 2002.