Many major decisions were made today, Wednesday, during the cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav announced the cabinet meeting's decisions, including the approval of a Rs 1,6,4 156 crore rejuvenation package for BSNL. The cabinet also authorized the merger of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL).
With this merger, BSNL will now have entire control of BBNL's 5.67 lakh kilometers of optical fiber across the country. In the next three years, the government will issue bonds worth Rs 33,000 crore for BSNL. Simultaneously, the government would issue a Rs 17,500 crore bond for MTNL in two years.
Union Minister said the government has approved a revival package of Rs 1,6,4 156 crores for the revival of BSNL. This will help the telecom company to upgrade to 4G.
BSNL has more than 6.80 lakh km of an optical fiber network. At the same time, BBNL has laid 5.67 lakh km of optical fiber in 1.85 lakh gram panchayats of the country. BSLN will get control of the fiber laid by BBNL through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
Apart from this work will be done for mobile connectivity in those 29,616 villages where this facility has not reached till now. A saturation package of Rs 26,316 crore has also been fixed for this. PM Narendra Modi made this promise on the occasion of Independence Day last year.
2020-21 was Rs 7,441 crore, and BSNL suffered a loss of Rs 7,441 crore in 2020-21. In the financial year 2019-20, BSNL had a loss of 15500 crores, while in 2018-19, there was a loss of about Rs 14,202 crores. There was a loss of Rs 7,993 crore in 2017-18. There was a loss of Rs 4,793 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 4,859 in 2015-16. The company has been running at a loss since 2010.
Where on the one hand there is an auction for the 5G spectrum in India. Reliance Jio, Airtel, and other companies are participating in this auction, while on the other hand, BSNL has not yet released the 4G service. In such a situation, it has lagged far behind private companies. 4G service in India was started in 2014, even after 8 years BSNL has not been able to start its 4G service.
