BSNL revival plan

The Union government has come up with an ambitious plan to make loss-making telecom PSU Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) financially viable. The revival package of Rs 1.64 lakh crore includes a cash component of Rs 43,964 crore; the key measures intended to bring about a turnaround are financial support, converting dues into equity and allocation of spectrum. Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, credited with creating the BharatNet fibre network, will be merged with BSNL. The government had earlier stepped in to bail out the telco in 2019; among the steps initiated were reducing the expenditure incurred on the staff through a voluntary retirement scheme for employees aged 50 years or above and debt restructuring by the raising of sovereign guarantee bonds.

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The government claims that the 2019 intervention made BSNL a stable entity and it has subsequently made ‘operating profits’. This is a charitable view, divorced from the ground reality. Below-par performance and a business-as-usual approach have brought BSNL to its knees, forcing crores of customers to opt for better service providers. The telco lost 5.36 lakh wireless subscribers in May this year, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), even as Jio gained over 31 lakh mobile users. On the broadband front, BSNL (2.5 crore subscribers) is way behind Reliance Jio Infocomm (41.4 crore), Bharti Airtel (21.7 crore) and Vodafone Idea (12.3 crore).

Despite the government’s all-out assistance, it’s highly unlikely that BSNL will be able to improve the quality of its services and retain or win back users, unless it overhauls its entire setup and brings in professionalism that corporate companies are known for. The fact that former BSNL customers have to wait for years to get their security refund sums up the sorry state of affairs. Considering the cut-throat competition in the telecom market, no service provider can afford to take any subscriber for granted. The Centre needs to have a Plan B ready in case the telco, which has now been tasked with providing 4G mobile services in 24,680 villages located in remote and difficult areas, fails to ensure high-speed Internet and good connectivity.