Government-backed BSNL may take over the maintenance and operations of the MTNL network on a revenue sharing basis. The final decision regarding the move will be declared within 2 or 3 months.
Anupam Shrivastava, BSNL CMD, told PTI the telecom company had received a proposal from MTNL’s CMD to manage its network. A committee has been created to study the new initiative. Its aim will be to hash out the details of the revenue sharing setup and how it’s to be employed.
To recall, BSNL has a pan-India license which covers all circles except for Mumbai and New Delhi. MTNL conducts its business in only those two areas. There’s no official reason given as to why the latter wants the former to handle its operations. Shrivastava went on to say that BSNL has been making serious in-roads into becoming profitable again.
According to him, BSNL has managed to report an operating profit of Rs 672 crore for FY15. A few days ago, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said this is the first time in 5 years the entity has been able to produce profits. He had earlier said the brand was doing well during the NDA’s reign, when it had posted positive figures of Rs 10183 crore.
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BSNL apparently went into losses of up to Rs 8234 crore during the 10 years the UPA was in charge. MTNL supposedly suffered the same fate, going from a profit of Rs 938 crore to a loss of Rs 2843 in 2014. Shrivastava asserts that BSNL’s service revenue rose as a result of a fall in administrative costs.
Ravi Shankar Prasad recently criticized BSNL, MTNL and India Post for the poor quality of service they provided. The Telecom Ministry had sent out 201 notices to the companies regarding the various problems being encountered by consumers, of which 64 have been resolved.