BSNL is a Central Government fully owned company providing telecom services all over the country, except in the metropolitan cities of Delhi and Mumbai. BSNL was formed on 1st October 2000 as part of the neo-liberal policy of the government, corporatizing from the Department of Telecom (DoT), which was providing the telecom services earlier. The telecommunications services in India have a long history spanning more than one and half century.
As per information available it was the Telegraph Services which started first. On 5th November 1850, the first telegram was sent from Calcutta to Diamond Harbour, a distance of 50 miles, by the British authorities thus inaugurating the telegraph services in India. First it was for the use of the government, but it was later extended to the people by 1855. It is reported that the telegraph services was effectively used by British for supressing the First War Independence, which they termed as ‘Sepoy Mutiny’.
The telegraph services expanded quickly and were the fasted communication available for many decades. By the 1930s, telephone was invented, and came to India also. Telephone Exchanges were started in big cities like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Delhi. The growth of telephones was spectacular. Almost all major cities and towns were covered by telephone services within one or two decades. Both the telegraphs and telephones continued side by side along with the limited signals service in the Postal side. Till 1985, it was the Posts & Telegraphs Department which provided the telegraph and telephone services. In both telegraph and telephone services, new technologies were introduced one after another which not only improved the services, but also made it faster and faster, which was the requirement of the government and the people. In 1985, Department of Telecommunications was formed, bifurcating the P&T Department, breaking the uninterrupted connection of more than one century.
The new liberalisation policy of the Central Government introduced under Narasimha Rao Government in the 1990-91 period, affected the telecom services also. In 1994-95, the private companies were given licences for providing mobile services, which were not available till that time. It was for the first time that any private company was allowed to function in the telecom sector. (Of course, I am not forgetting the brief period in the 1930s when certain private companies provided telephone services in the major cities which were all taken over by Government). This was a major deviation from the Indian Telegraph Act of 1886 and the existing policy of the government to keep this crucial sector in the hands of the government.
The next step was corporatizing the telecom service was by formation of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL – Overseas Communications), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd ( MTNL – telephone services in Delhi and Bombay) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL – telecom services in all parts of the country including telegraph services in Delhi and Bombay). VSNL was formed first, MTNL second and the last BSNL on 1st October 2000. Corporatisation was the step towards privatisation, as already seen in the case of VSNL, which has been handed over to Tatas and is now a private company, Tata Communications.
Growth of BSNL
Despite gross discrimination by the government, BSNL started improving from start and was growing convincingly in the newly introduced mobile services till 2007, when the government got cancelled the 45.5 million mobile tender BSNL, which was intended to tap the fast growing mobile market. Further tenders were also scrapped due to one or another reason. These were all done to help the private companies to expand in a big way. Even the minimum procurement could be ensured only after the workers went on strike in 2007 under the leadership of the Joint Forum of BSNL Unions / Associations.
In the landline and broad band services, BSNL is having the biggest market share, but in the fast growing mobile, it is having about 13-14% only. While in the first 9 years BSNL posted good profits, in the last four years it has been only losses. However, in this year, the losses have come down marginally, which is a good sign.
People want BSNL services, but due to various reasons, anti-PSU policy of the government and inefficiency of the management, workers are not able to provide services as required. The mind-set of the workers has also to be changed for the better towards customer-oriented. There is no doubt that better service can be provided.
The Forum of BSNL Unions / Associations, the co-ordination committee, has been continuously making sustained efforts to get the anti-PSU policy changed, pressurising the management for procuring equipment etc and motivating the workers for providing a better and courteous service. Through the “Customer Delight Year” campaign, it has been able to get the service better, though in a limited way.
The Government has formed a Committee of Group of Ministers (GoM) with the Finance Minister P.Chidambaram as Chairman with other five members including Communications Minister Kapil Sibal as members for ‘Revival of BSNL’. The intention of the government is well understood. Its main agenda will be disinvestment and VRS. But the workers cannot sit idle. This challenge has got to be converted in to an opportunity for saving and strengthening BSNL and for providing a better service to the Nation. The past glory of the telecom services has to be restored.
This is the immediate challenge. BSNL workers are prepared to accept the challenge and change the situation for the better. The workers will have to make maximum efforts for a better service to the people. BSNL stands for Better Service.
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