Category Archives: BSNL – Better Service to the Nation

The BSNL Employees under the Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations are making all out efforts to ensure a better service to the customers. It has given a detailed Memorandum to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Communications Minister, Secretary DOT, CMD BSNL etc. with proposals for improvement and strengthening the company. The issues coming in this category are connected with the same.

BSNL to provide e-health, e-governance

28 Saturday Mar 2015

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 27

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has initiated a scheme to disseminate information regarding e-health, e-education and e-governance facilities in rural areas. BSNL officials said as the pilot project, the scheme had been launched in 1,284 villages of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.Addressing mediapersons during a press conference here today, Rajesh Kumar, General Manager, BSNL, said to make the service effective, BSNL would lay cables in 3,000 kms.“The work has been divided in two phases. Under the first phase, the BSNL would cover seven blocks out of the total 19 in two districts,” added Rajesh.He said that work in seven blocks would be completed by July and the work in Bhikhiwind and Naushera Pannuan blocks of Tarn Taran district had already been started.

BSNL to provide information on e-governance,e-health etc.

28 Saturday Mar 2015

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A report by Tribune new Service is given below:

Amritsar, March 27

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has initiated a scheme to disseminate information regarding e-health, e-education and e-governance facilities in rural areas. BSNL officials said as the pilot project, the scheme had been launched in 1,284 villages of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.Addressing mediapersons during a press conference here today, Rajesh Kumar, General Manager, BSNL, said to make the service effective, BSNL would lay cables in 3,000 kms.“The work has been divided in two phases. Under the first phase, the BSNL would cover seven blocks out of the total 19 in two districts,” added Rajesh.He said that work in seven blocks would be completed by July and the work in Bhikhiwind and Naushera Pannuan blocks of Tarn Taran district had already been started.

SAVE BSNL, SAVE NATION (3) – No Merger of BSNL and MTNL

27 Friday Mar 2015

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The Government is proposing to merge BSNL and MTNL. It had already formed a committee for the purpose of examining the issues connected with the merger. Months back, the government has stated that the merger will take place by June 2015, and before that a meeting with the unions will be held. It means that the government on their own will take the decision; after that a meeting will be held with the union to convey their decision. The workers and their unions do not agree to this.

The MTNL was formed in the 1980s bifurcating from the DOT. Nobody wanted the bifurcation. BSNL was formed in 2000 against the strong opposition of the workers. These two companies were formed to reduce the strength of government sector and to gradually privatise both. The method was to reduce the staff strength through VRS and also by disinvestment of shares, thus reducing the govt. share and hand over to private company as it has done in the case of Maruti Udyog Limited which became Suzuki and VSNL which became Tata Communications.

It is because of this, BSNL Employees under the Joint Forum/Joint Action Committee/Forum strongly opposed both VRS and Disinvestment and organised sustained struggles, including strike, which compelled the government not to impose both. Of course, still the recommendations are there to retrench 70,000 workers through VRS.

By merger of BSNL and MTNL, government is trying to kill both with one stroke, as they tried with Air India – Indian Airlines Merger.

In this connection, our demand is that before any discussion on merger of BSNL and  MTNL, three conditions should be fulfilled. (1). The 46.5% shares disinvested by MTNL should be bought back (2) There are liabilities to the MTNL to the extent of Rs. 20,000 crore; this should be waived / paid by the government and (3) the HR issues including different pay scales should be settled.

These are only but very reasonable and also unavoidable conditions. Otherwise keep the merger proposal in abeyance. BSNL employees can not agree to any merger without fulfilling these conditions.

 

SAVE BSNL, SAVE NATION – (2) – Compensation for loss making connections

26 Thursday Mar 2015

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At the time of the corporatisation of DOT services to BSNL in October 2000, the government gave three main assurances to ensure its financial viability. (1) Access Deficit Charges (ADC) will be collected from the private telecom companies and the same will be paid to BSNL (2) BSNL have to pay licence fee just like other telecom companies, but the same will be refunded to it and (3) There will be liberal support from the USO Fund for providing universal service (means providing telephone connections in the village and rural areas as part of the governments commitment to provide universal service).  It was also declared at the time of inauguration of BSNL by the then Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan that BSNL will be granted the status of Maharatna, which is above Mini Ratna and Navaratna status.

For a few years, ADC was collected and paid to BSNL. Later it was topped. In lieu of it an amount of Rs.1,500 crore was sanctioned and paid in 2011-12 and  an amount of Rs. 1,250 crore was allotted for 2012-13. But so far this latter amount is not paid to BSNL. ADC is completely stopped also.

In the same way, for a few years, the Licence Fee paid by BSNL was refunded. Now the refund is not given.

Though USO Fund was being paid to BSNL, it was far less than required. Approximately an amount of about Rs. 3,000 crore was being received by USOF from all the telecom companies together, but only about an amount of Rs. 200-300 was being paid to BSNL. The fund got accumulated to more than Rs.20,000 crore. Now all the companies are made eligible for USOF and BSNL is getting only a small portion.

With regard to grant of Maharatna, BSNL is granted only Mini Ratna, which in fact, is an insult to such a big company.

By going back from the assurances on financial viability and grant of Maharatna status, which gives more power to the PSU to take decisions etc., the government was making BSNL a loss making company. BSNL is in loss of about Rs. 10,000 crore for providing services in the interior and difficult areas. If the government fully compensate this loss, then the company will be in profit.

The Forum demands that the Government should honour its assurances and continue the support already assured at the time of the formation of BSNL. This is a major demand of the Forum included in the notice for Strike on 21-22 April 2015.

Government gets over Rs. 1lakh crore from spectrum auction

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

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The spectrum action is over after a very long 19 days. The government will get Rs. 1,09,874 crores from the auction of 800 MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz spectrum. This is the biggest auction of spectrum so far. There has been stiff competition to get the spectrum by the private companies.

We demand that from the spectrum sale, at least Rs. 10,000 crore should be paid to BSNL as immediate assistance to purchase equipment for expansion and maintenance.

 

SAVE BSNL, SAVE NATION – What are our Demands?(1) Procurement of Equipments

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

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The 2.25 lakh executives and non-executives are going on Two days Strike on 21-22 April 2015 demanding that the government takes necessary measures to revive BSNL and strengthen it. The strike notice signed by the General Secretaries of the unions/associations have been served on the CMD BSNL and Secretary DOT with copy to the Hon’ble Communications Minister on 12th March 2015. Neither the DOT nor the BSNL Management has called the Forum of Unions/Associations to discuss the demands so far.

As per the call of the Forum, a massive Parliament March, participated by thousands of BSNL employees, Pensioners and casual Contract workers was organised on 25th February 2015 as a prelude to the Strike. Earlier a three days dharna was organised on 6-8 January 2015. Circle level conventions have been organised in many circles with the General Secretaries participating and preparing the workers for the strike. Call has been given for holding SSA level conventions as part of the SAVE BSNL Campaign. Serious campaign is going on in preparation for the strike. This is a “DO OR DIE” battle and every employee should be part of it.

What are the main demands raised by the Forum? Let us examine one by one.

1. Immediate Procurement of Equipments

One of the main reason for the present unenviable situation of BSNL is the lack of equipments. The mobile lines, Broadband Modem, Drop wire, telephone instruments, cables etc. are in acute shortage, which are required for the expansion and maintenance of service. Since 2006, this shortage continues,resulting blockade of advancement. While the private companies are free to purchase equipment without tender, BSNL has to go through a series of procedures before any purchase has to be made. Secondly, there is no fund with BSNL. When funds were available, the government did not allow purchase. The government should  now allow BSNL to take loans from Banks with its guarantee, otherwise banks will not give loans.

While the private companies are allowed to purchase from the Chinese companies which are comparatively cheap and efficient, BSNL is denied permission for the same citing national security. This should be cleared.

Management is purchasing towers from private companies, while the Telecom Factories of BSNL are producing the same, citing low cost for the private towers. This should be stopped. The towers manufactured in Factories should be made cost-friendly and the same should be purchased by the  BSNL, which can save a lot of money.

Many equipment could be manufactured in the Telecom Factories. (It is better to call them BSNL Factories instead of TFs.) These would be of good quality and cost-friendly and suitable for the BSNL network.

The undue and unnecessary delay being caused by the Quality Assurance in checking the equipment manufactured by the BSNL Factories should be reduced, so that equipment are made available quickly.

BSNL Casual and Contract Workers on strike on 21-22 April 2015.

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

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BSNL Employees as per call of Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations are going on strike on 21-22 April demanding steps for the revival of BSNL.

On the same issue as also on the issue of casual and contract workers, BSNL CCWF has also given strike notice for the same days.

Leaders of Forum, Unions, Associations and Casual and Contract Workers Association should co-ordinate together and make the strike a big success.

This is a ‘Do or Die’ situation. Unity in struggle is most important.

Appoint A Director from the Staff Side in the BSNL Board

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNL News, PSU, SAVE BSNL CAMPAIGN, Telecom

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BSNL is passing through a difficult period. It is in loss, its market share has gone down to below 9% and its subscribers are surrendering land lines. A herculean effort is required to ring it back to normal. The Forum, which is the umbrella organisation of all the unions and associations is on a campaign trail to get the support of the people for its revival. The 2.5 lakh workers are fully committed to the revival of BSNL.

In this context, it is only appropriate that a member of the staff side /union / association should be included in the Director Board. Workers’ Participation should not only be a slogan, but is also to be practised.

By 2018-19 BSNL will be profitable – CMD BSNL

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

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Teleanalyses interview Shri Anupam Shrivatava, CMD BSNL on the activities and plans of BSNL

Q. BSNL is very active in government projects. What is the status of projects like NOFN, NFS (network for spectrum), LWE (left wing extremists) and North East?

BSNL is executing projects worth Rs 25,000 crore ($4 billion) in the next 2-3 years. The projects which BSNL is executing include: NFS for Defence; NOFN for BBNL; LWE for left wing extremists states and North East project for improving connectivity in North East. All these projects are under implementation except North East project where BSNL is planning to float EoI (expression of interest) by next month.

Q.What is BSNL’s mobile expansion plan for Phase 7 and Phase 8?

In Phase 7, BSNL is investing Rs 4,804 crore for creating 15 million additional mobile capacity. The capacity addition will take care for both 2G and 3G. In Phase 7, BSNL is building 27,000 towers of which 15,000 will be for 2G and 12,000 for 3G. Presently, BSNL has around 97,000 towers.

BSNL has till date completed 60 percent of Phase 7 expansion and the project is planned to be completed by June, 2015. Phase 7 will help in plugging the gap of 2G, removing blind spots in mobile network and increasing data capacity by 30-40 times.

Q. What’s the update on tower leasing and land bank?

Tower leasing proposal has gone to the ministry for its consideration. The proposal focuses on creating a separate business unit, creating a separate subsidiary company within BSNL which is fully owned by BSNL and creating a joint venture.

On the land bank front, eight proposals have been sent to the ministry for building housing complex, IT park and commercial building. For both the proposals, we are awaiting the ministry’s approval.

We are planning enhanced CDR billing which will take care of fixed line, mobile and also leased line.

We are planning converged billing so that we can offer single bill to our consumer for all types of services. With converged billing, we can offer multiple tariff packages offering different services to our enterprise and retail customers. We can come up with different schemes targeting those customers depending upon their usage pattern. We will very soon come up with converged billing RFP on a revenue sharing model.

Q. BSNL is focusing a lot on Wi-Fi hotspots. How will this help BSNL in the long run?

BSNL has lots of copper cable and optical fiber cable which we want to exploit for data services. We want to utilize Wi-Fi hotspots and integrate it with 3G services for increased reach to mobile consumers. We are focusing on data in a big way such that it is a game changer for telecom industry. In future, if we play our cards well we would be successful in data services.

BSNL is planning 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in the next 2-3 years. For Wi-Fi, we have tied up with Quadgen Wireless for South and West on revenue sharing basis. We will very soon float tender to provide Wi-Fi coverage for North and West regions.

What is expected revenue for BSNL in FY 2014-15? When are you planning to be profitable?

BSNL revenue should cross Rs 29,000 crore in FY 2014-15 with a growth of 4-5 percent. In FY 2014-15, we would be operational profit or EBITDA comfortable. We plan to be profitable by FY 2018-19.

BSNL expected to garner Rs. 29,000 crore in 2014 -15 – CMD BSNL

20 Friday Mar 2015

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State run telecom firm BSNL is expected to garner revenue of Rs 29,000 crore in FY 2014-15. The company also believes that it can manage a growth rate of 4 to 5 percent by the end of this fiscal year, its CMD said.
“At a growth rate of 4 % to 5%, we hope to cross Rs 29,000 crore this year,” BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava told TeleAnalysis. (News Report)
If this happens, it is a turn around for Revival of BSNL.