According to the Cabinet decision on the recommendations of the Empowered Group of Ministers(EGoM) yesterday,  an amount of Rs.31,000 crore will be charged from the telecom operators as a onetime charge  towards the cost for the extra spectrum of more than 4.4 MHZ available with them.  Out of this, an amount of Rs. 10,890 crores ( by another calculation Rs. 11,818 crores) is to be paid by the BSNL and MTNL, the Public Sector companies. By any calculation, this amount to be paid by these PSUs for  pan India presence is much more than being charged from the private telecom companies like Airtel, Vodaphone etc. which comes to only Rs. 5,000 crore or less. This is completely discriminatory and unjustified.

Further, both these PSUs are in loss for the last three years, especially by the loss incurred for providing connections  in villages and rural areas in implementation of the universal service obligation and social commitment of the government. Private companies shirk away from providing connections in these remote areas due to the heavy loss that will be incurred. Both the PSUs are not in a position to pay these hefty charges also.

As such, the Joint  Forum of BSNL & MTNL Unions/Associations demands the Government to waive the charges for extra spectrum  from the BSNL and MTNL  and allow them to hold the extra spectrum in the interest of the nation.