Author Archives: VAN NAMBOODIRI

BSNL Towers to be made a separate company – DOT moves Cabinet Note

12 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Telecom

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

The Department of Telecom has moved a Cabinet note seeking permission to hive off the tower assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd into a new company.

BSNL has 61,622 towers, which is the second largest tower portfolio among all telecom companies. Indus Towers, a joint venture between Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, is the largest player with 1.2 lakh towers.

“Establishment of a separate company for holding and managing the tower infrastructure assets of BSNL will enable the new company to unlock the true potential of the tower business and leverage it for expansion and spread of infrastructure,” the DoT note said.

According to DoT calculations, if the tower assets were considered as a separate entity it would have earned Rs 964 crore in 2012-13. Based on certain assumptions, DoT expects the EBITDA of the proposed tower company to touch Rs 2,357 crore by 2023.

Total asset base

The total asset base of the proposed company is estimated at Rs 7,226 crore with fixed assets of Rs 6,517 crore and net working capital of Rs 708 crore. Since the hiving off will impact BSNL’s top line, it has been proposed to incorporate Rs 2,500 crore as loans from BSNL at an interest rate of 12 per cent. The earnings by way of interest would neutralise the negative cash impact on BSNL, the note stated.

The transfer of assets to the new company would be liable to levy of Rs 475 crore worth of stamp duty. DoT has proposed to seek a waiver from the Delhi Government. The new tower company is expected to have a workforce of around 3,000 people.

Though BSNL had opened up its tower infrastructure for sharing in 2010, it did not get many tenants. On the other hand, private tower players, such as Bharti Infratel, have been able to unlock value by listing its shares on the stock exchanges.

Private companies have also been able to get into infra sharing agreements, which have helped reduce their costs.

In contrast, BSNL has only one per cent of the market for tower tenancies.

“There are several reasons for the low market share, which include lack of focussed marketing mechanism for customer acquisition, the perception that BSNL towers have a lower site uptime, pricing of infrastructure being more expensive than prevailing market rate, the perception of conflict of interest between BSNL and non-BSNL tenancies and perception of poor response to tenant complaints,” the DoT note said.

Hiving the assets into a separate company could bring in the required focus. Nearly 50,000 towers of BSNL are connected by optical fibre cable, which is useful for transmitting data services.

External tenancies

The following report in Business Line today indicates the government’s intention to separate the tower business of BSNL in to a separate company to make more profit. But essentially, what BSNL now gets from the tower business ie. about Rs.1,000 crores will be lost. However, in the note it is stated that compensation will be paid to BSNL through interest for which the loan given to the new company on behalf of BSNL. We have to getmore details in the matter:
According to DoT’s estimates, the market for external tenancies is expected to be in the region of 80,000-100,000 towers in the next five years. The proposed company could garner 16-18 per cent of the total market share.

The DoT has proposed to hive off the assets in phases. Under the proposed plan, the tower assets will be moved into an independent business unit within BSNL and operational activities, such as marketing, would be outsourced to private partners.

In the second phase, the unit will be converted into a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The entire process is expected to be completed in 12-18 months after the Union Cabinet approves the proposal.

Historical Mammoth March to Parliament

12 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in TU News - India

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

The mammoth March to Parliament by Workers on 12th December 2013 was indeed historical. By about 0900 AM, workers started reaching the Parliament street where the rally will meet. The main jatha started from the Ramlila Grounds and marched towards Parliament. Many other jathas were coming to the Parliament by various routes. In fact, all the roads were full of workers with flags of their respective unions.

By about 1100 hours, the main rallies reached the Parliament street where it was stopped by the police with three tier barricade and lot of police officers including women police. The rally started with the leaders sitting in the ready made pandal which can be seen even from far away. The Parliament Street and both its sidewalks were thronged by people for more than one km. The red flags the unions were mingled with the BMS and INTUC flags.
BSNLEU, AIBDPA and BSNLCCWF workers started their March from Eastern Court premises. With the banners of the Unions, hundreds of workers marched to the Parliament. Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President BSNLEU, Animesh Mitra, Dy.GS BSNLEU, KG Jayaraj, GS AIBDPA, Tapas Ghosh GS BSNLCCWF and other leaders were in the front. Comrades from Delhi and all near by circles came in large numbers.
The Presidents and General Secretaries of the 11 Central Trade Unions who gave the call for the Parliament March were in the dias. One after another the leaders addressed the house and congratulated the workers for the mammoth participation. They also explained the ten demands on which the rally is being held and also on which more than 12 workers participated in the 48 hours strike on 20-21 February 2013 strike. Coms Tapan Sen (CITU), Gurudas Dasgupta (AITUC) and other leaders addressed. The meeting is continuing. (to be continued)

March to Parliament on 12th December 2013

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in TU News - India

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

One of the biggest Parliament March is going to take place tomorrow, 12th December 2013. The Parliament March has been called by the 11 Central Trade Unions including INTUC, BMS, HMS, CITU, AITUC, UTUC etc. About 40 All India federations, including BSNLEU are participating.The demands are the same viz. against price rise, issues of unorganised workers, against anti-workers policies etc.
By the evening of today itself, thousands of workers from all over the country has reached the capital to participate in the Parliament March.
Lakhs of workers are expected to participate. BSNL workers will start from the Eastern Court by 10.00 AM. Comrades are requested to reach there in time.
Let us make the Parliament March a Historic Demonstration of the Indian Working Class!

Airtel and Reliance Jio pact will change situation

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Telecom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

The Airtel and Reliance Jio (of Mukesh Ambani) have announced an agreement between them for sharing of infrastructure. These will include optical fibre network, sub-marine cables, towers, internet broadband services etc.
What is the implications of this agreement? Reliance Jio has got 4G Spectrum. Airtel has got 1.75 lakh route KM of optical fibre and 1.35 lakh towers as also submarine cable. This agreement will naturally help both the companies to go ahead in a big way.
How it will affect BSNL and other companies? Let us see.

Govt. proposes mandate to departments and PSUs to give preference to BSNL/MTNL

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in BSNL News

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

It seems that the Central Government may accept one of the demands raised by the Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations in their Declaration demanding the Government to mandate to all departments and PSUs to get landline and mobile connections from BSNL/MTNL only. Reply given to a Parliament Question by the Minister of State for Communications Smt.Killi Kriparani hints towards this point.A press report in this connection is given below for details:

‘In a bid to enhance the revenues of BSNL and MTNL, the government has proposed that union ministries, public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies give preference to the services of the state-run telecom operators.

“Proposing preferential treatment to BSNL and MTNL services in Central Government Ministries/Central Government public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies to enhance the revenues earned by BSNL and MTNL,” Minister of State for Communications and IT Killi Kruparani said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

She said the government had constituted a group of ministers (GoM) on April 17, 2013 to recommend short term, medium term and long term measures for revival and revitalisation of BSNL and MTNL.

In a separate query, Kruparani said BSNL suffered a loss of Rs. 7,884 crores in 2012-13 whereas MTNL’s losses stood at Rs. 5,321 crores in the same period.

“The principal reasons for the rising losses of BSNL and MTNL are due to sharp decline in revenue and increase in expenditure,” she said on December 6.

She said the revenues of the state-run telecom PSUs are declining due to substitution of fixed wireline to mobile wireless, stiff competition in mobile wireless sector, payment towards 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum charges.

Decrease in average revenue per user in mobile wireless sector is also hitting the telecom operators’ revenues, she added.

“The principal reason for the increase in expenditure is mainly due to large legacy workforce as a result of which employee expenses are currently at around 50 percent of revenues for BSNL and 103 percent for MTNL,” she added.

She said the GoM had made recommendations for payment of pension to the employees of MTNL on the pattern of BSNL, surrender of BWA spectrum by BSNL in six service areas and MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai for which refund will be paid to the operators.

The GoM had also recommended waiver of unpaid portion along with the interest of notional loan of Rs. 7,500 crores given to BSNL as part of the capital structure of the company at the time of its formation.

“The above recommendations of the GoM are being taken to the Cabinet for approval,” she added’ (Courtesy : NDTV)

Homage to Com. KG Bose on 39th Death Anniversary

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Obituary, Tributes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

11th December, every year, is observed as the death anniversary of Com.K.G.Bose, the Revolutionary leader who electrified the P and T and Central Government employees movement in the correct direction with progressive ideas. It was on 11th December 1974, at the age of 54 that Comrade K.G.Bose passed away in a London hospital after battling against the dreaded cancer.
It was under the leadership of Com. KG that the NFPTE movement came to age. He was dismissed in 1949 in connection with the proposed P and T employees strike and was never taken back. But he continued in the movement and was elected as the President of NFPTE in 1970. He was also elected as the President of the Postal Employees Union also. He took active role and leadership in the 1946, 1960 and 1968 strikes and was a leader of the Central Government Employees as well. He was one the founder Joint General secretaries of the mighty 12th July Committee in W.Bengal. He was elected as MLA and also functioned as a member of the Pay Commission for W.Bengal State Govt. employees.
All over India, the death anniversary was observed with meetings, paying homage to the departed leader.
In New Delhi a well attended meeting was held at KG Bose Bhawan, the building of BSNLEU dedicated to Com. KG at about 10.30 hours. A beautiful statue of Com.KG, donated by the W.Bengal Circle was unveiled in the KG Bose Bhawan by Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President of BSNLEU.
In his inaugural speech Com.Namboodiri spoke in detail about the life and sacrifices of the revolutionary leader to advance the cause of the workers. He mentioned also his experience in working with com. KG. His slogan struggle for Unity and Unity for Struggle has been implemented by BSNLEU. He called upon the workers to dedicate their activities to the cause of the workers.
Com. Animesh Mitra, Dy.GS, BSNLEU welcomed the gathering. Coms. P.Abhimanyu, GS, BSNLEU, C.Singh, GS, NFTE, Islam Ahmed, President NFTE, R.K.Kohli, GS, NFTBE, K.G.Jayaraj, GS AIBDPA, Tapas Ghosh, GS, BSNLCCWF, R.P.Sharma, R.Govindaraj, CS, Chennai, H.S.Thakur, CS, MP, R.S.Chauhan, CS, NTR Delhi, Kamal Sah, CS, C.O., Jagdish, CHQ Org. Secretary and other leaders also addressed. Com. Swapan Chakroborty AGS gave vote of thanks.
The function was well arranged and the participants returned with added enthusiasm to continue their work.

Red Beacon for Constitutional Authorities and High Dignitaries only – Supreme Court

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The Supreme Court has ordered that only constitutional authorities and high dignitaries identified by the government are only eligible to use the Red Beacon Lights in their vehicles. The SC has strictly that all others at present using red beacon should stop it forthwith. The SC also stated that ambulance, police etc. can use blue beacon.One moth time is given to the governments to implement the same.

The decision of the apex court is most welcome. At present, many persons who are not eligible are using the red beacon and speeding past with high sirens causing a lot of harassment to traffic.

The order has got to be strictly implemented.

Spectrum Prices approved by Cabinet.

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Telecom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The uncertainty over the auction price of the spectrum,airwaves, is over. The Cabinet yesterday approved the recommendations of the GoM, headed by Finance minister P.Chidambaram to fix the auction price.

Now the government will start the process of auction. It expects to get about Rs. 48,000 crores.

Nokia offers to pay Rs. 3,000 crore, instead of due tax of 21,153 Crore

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

The following case is a classic example of how the MNCs are dealing with the due tax to be paid by the to the Government of India.

The Income Tax Department has given notice to the mobile equipment manufacturing company NOKIA for an Income Tax of rs. 21,153 crores. The MNC has refused to pay stating that there is no tax to be paid and it will fight in the court. The company also stated that they are willing to close the case by paying a meagre amount of Rs. 3,000 crores, if the government agrees. Rs. 3,000 crore instead of Rs.21,153 crores!

A similar case is pending with Vodafone. It is to pay a tax of more than 12,000 crores. instead of paying it had gone to the court. The Finance Minister stated that negotiation can take place in the matter. In the same was negotiation may take with Nokia also.There is nothing wrong with negotiation. But what will happen with the UPA-II government is well known. The government will bends its knee before the MNCs and accept what they offer.

One the one side, the precious natural resources are sold to the corporates and MNCs for far less than their value and on the other hand even the due tax are not collected from them. It is not surprising that the Congress had to face ignominious defeat in the recent state assembly elections.

Nokia offers to pay Rs.3,000 crore Tax, while it owes Rs. 21,153 crores!

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

The following case is a classic example of how the MNCs are dealing with the due tax to be paid by the to the Government of India.

The Income Tax Department has given notice to the mobile equipment manufacturing company NOKIA for an Income Tax of rs. 21,153 crores. The MNC has refused to pay stating that there is no tax to be paid and it will fight in the court. The company also stated that they are willing to close the case by paying a meagre amount of Rs. 3,000 crores, if the government agrees. Rs. 3,000 crore instead of Rs.21,153 crores!

A similar case is pending with Vodafone. It is to pay a tax of more than 12,000 crores. instead of paying it had gone to the court. The Finance Minister stated that negotiation can take place in the matter. In the same was negotiation may take with Nokia also.There is nothing wrong with negotiation. But what will happen with the UPA-II government is well known. The government will bends its knee before the MNCs and accept what they offer.

One the one side, the precious natural resources are sold to the corporates and MNCs for far less than their value and on the other hand even the due tax are not collected from them. It is not surprising that the Congress had to face ignominious defeat in the recent state assembly elections.