Revival plan of BSNL to be in the public domain within a month

BSNL Chairman and Managing Director P K Purwar says that the government’s plan to revive BSNL should be in the public domain within a month, while 4G spectrum will be allocated to it by the end of this year. He has also said that the salary of all employees will be paid before Diwali on October 23 and 24.

P K Purwar thinks that the revival plan should be in the public domain within a month. He has been replying to a query on revival of BSNL on the sidelines of an event to announce the company’s partnership with video entertainment app Yupp TV.

The loss-making PSU submitted a proposal to the government in 2015 for 4G spectrum allocation and seeking approval to a voluntary retirement scheme package pending since 2009. According to sources, the package is expected to cost government Rs 74,000 crore but most of it can be recovered through asset monetisation of the company.

He says that BSNL has a salary liability of Rs 1,200 crore which will be cleared through internal accruals.

When asked about the status of 4G spectrum allocation to the company, Purwar said that they expect 4G spectrum should be allocated to BSNL by the end of this calendar year.

BSNL has launched 4G services in some parts of the country using 3G spectrum that was allocated to it. Purwar said that it will take BSNL to expand 4G network for full fledged service in 12-15 months from the time spectrum is allocated to the company. According to broadband speed test report of telecom regulator Trai, BSNL has the fastest 3G network in the country.

BSNL CMD says that once revival plan of the company is approved by the government, the state run firm will focus on transforming itself to “data first” company from a voice services provider. The reason behind partnering with Yupp TV is to monetise network with data. They are partnering with all the OTT (video entertainment apps) to offer content choice to customers. They have signed a memorandum of understanding with Yupp TV and will finalise tariff within a couple of months. The company has already partnered with Amazon and Hotspot to offer content to customers.

Purwar says that BSNL still has the faith of its 120 million customers and has the largest fixed line subscriber base with 60 per cent market share.