Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal Monday permitted Bharat Sanchar Nigan Ltd and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd to go for downward revision of tariff of their cellular services without referring the proposals to Trai.
Company has around 70,000 towers and it will explore various business models that can realise value of its infrastructure
He says he's now confident of arresting its decline through various measures, including renewed focus on landline and mobile services, sorting out procurement problems and outsourcing unutilised space and tower management.
A committee headed by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister, has suggested that state-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd should retire or transfer about 100,000 of its employees through measures such as a voluntary retirement scheme. This is a third of BSNL's total employee strength, of 300,000 across the country.To improve organisational performance and employee productivity substantially, BSNL should induct young talent in all spaces.
The Supreme Court admitted an appeal by BSNL challenging a TDSAT decision expressing inability to penalise Bharti Telesonics Ltd for allegedly violating conditional clearance for providing national long distance telephone service.
The monopoly of state-owned service providers Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd in the public call office business is fast eroding.
Dispute over Telecom Regulator's power regarding interconnectivity agreements between telecom operators reached the Supreme Court,
At the end of Dec, the government had Rs 47,273 crore in the USO fund, with annual accruals of about Rs 6,000 crore.
The government's plan to list state-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will be delayed due to the company's mounting losses and high payout for 3G spectrum.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a sub divisional engineer of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd of Roorkee, Ashok Chaudhary, and four private persons of Faridabad (Haryana) and Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), including an NRI kingpin based in Saudi Arabia, Sayeed Zaidi, for running a racket to cheat BSNL to the tune of several crores of rupees by illegally activating unmentioned ISD facility to local landline numbers.
Employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will strike work on May 21 in response to a call by central trade unions to protest government's privatisation policy.\n\n\n\n
Private basic operators increased their mobile subscriber base to 57.69 lakh (5.769 million) during November with Reliance alone accounting for 52.13 lakh (5.213 million) WLL subscribers.
The recommendations include divestment of 30 per cent government equity in BSNL, reducing the company's workforce by a third, and cancelling the telecom equipment order for 93 million GSM lines, replacing it with network outsourcing deals.
The central government has no plans of divesting stakes in public sector telecom firms - BSNL and MTNL - as the two were performing well in the competitive telecom sector.
State-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has written to the defence ministry to amend the conditions for floating tenders, including having own manufacturing facility in India, for setting up alternative communications network for defence forces."We have written to the defence ministry for change in tender conditions as some companies have said that the current conditions are very strict," said a senior BSNL official.
In the past, BSNL had invested in IT, but it could never get the desired effect. In fact, a report pegged the company's expected 2010-11 losses to be over Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).
A bitter battle between the finance ministry and the Department of Telecommunications over their jurisdiction might force the latter to withdraw its decision to waive licence fees for fixed-line service operators in rural areas.
Officially confirming the change in tack for the first time after months of speculation, Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL's chairman and managing director, told Business Standard, "Foreign partners definitely bring in some expertise that will help the company improve its performance."
The company is seeking consultants for mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, acquiring telecom licences outside India, a senior BSNL official said. BSNL, with a view to establishing itself as a global player in the telecom sector and to achieve inorganic growth, is aiming at expanding its area of operations, the official said.
In talks with BSNL, MTNL to float a firm in which it will hold 49 per cent.
Airtel says to avail alternative routes to keep services on.
This is contrary to the BSNL technical committee's earlier approval to use the DR solutions of US-based Sun Microsystems and EMC Corporation. According to vendors close to the development, HP's DR solutions were not mentioned in the original purchase order issued to Ericsson, the main bidder.
In yet another instance of evasion of levy, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has asked private operators Tata Teleservices and Reliance Infocomm to pay up the charges for positioning their fixed wireless phones as mobile services.
The second central public sector units (PSU) pay revision committee report has suggested a new classification of state-owned companies linking salaries and remuneration to productivity and performance.
The proposal is aimed at arresting the decline in wireline services growth and spur availability of broadband internet access across the country. The move has been high on the agenda of Communications Minister A Raja for some time now.
The government is considering buying back shares of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd from the market as one of the options to pave the way for its merger with Bharat Sanchar Nigam, which is not listed on the bourses.
Private telecom operators on Friday raised serious concerns over BSNL's non-compliance with regard to implementation of interconnect user charge saying they (BSNL) were completely violating Trai's regulations.
With demand for mobile phone connections exceeding expectations in Srinagar, BSNL on Wednesday ordered another 10,000 application forms to cope with the rush even as a company official was suspended for unauthorised possession of forms.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has worked out an elaborate plan for the development of telecommunications network along the ancient silk route following the recent Sino-Indian agreement on border trade through Nathula in East Sikkim.
Union leaders say that Raja only assured the members that a fresh tender for the second phase of the contract would be issued soon, but was unwilling to commit on other aspects of their demand.
Arrears owed by subscribers to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd stand at Rs 2655 crore (Rs 26.55 billion), including Rs 306 crore (Rs 3.06 billion), against government departments, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
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