Lok Sabha Q&A : BSNL disinvestment not under consideration

The Parliament was informed on Wednesday that there is no proposal under consideration for the disinvestment of BSNL.

Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State (MoS) for Communications, stated in a separate written reply to Lok Sabha that there is no delay or deficiency in services provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) as a result of VRS implementation.

According to Chauhan, the current employee strength is adequate for the operation of the state-owned telecom corporation.

"There is no plan under consideration for BSNL disinvestment," Chauhan responded to a question about BSNL's immovable assets.

According to audited financials, the value of immovable assets, which include buildings, lands, towers, telecom equipment, and non-telecom equipment, as of March 31, 2021, totals 89,878 crore (total netblock).

BSNL's all-India market share for mobile subscribers was 9.90% as of December 31, 2021, and 15.40% for wired broadband subscribers.

This month, the government intends to merge BBNL with the loss-making state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

At a recent event organised by the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA), BSNL chairman and managing director PK Purwar stated that the government is giving the telecom firm a chance to turn things around.

BSNL already has an optical fibre cable (OFC) network of over 6.8 lakh kilometres.

With the proposed merger, BSNL will receive 5.67 lakh kilometres of optical fibre that has been laid across the country's 1.85 lakh village panchayats using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).