In an Editorial captioned “Persisting with those Phoney Connections”, The Economic Times dated 2nd January 2014 has stated that it is high time that the land line connections are done away with. It states that the land line telephone ” If any thing is a symbol of old culture of scarcity and elitism in India” and ” It remains largely a government monopoly and, in today’s world, should be counted as a dispensable luxury” in view of the large scale availability of mobile phones, which ” rarely go on the blink and need not be repaired by bribing slothful linemen.” The Editorial concludes with the sentence that ” cutting this mandatory connection to the land line phone can perhaps be considered as an aam aadmi-friendly gesture to ring in the new year.”
This is part of the sinister attack by the corporates and private telcos against the telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL. Despite maximum efforts, the private companies could not take away the prominent position of BSNL and MTNL in land lines and Broadband connections. A good part of the revenue of these PSUs come from the above business. The MNCs and corporates want to destabilise the PSUs in one way or other and completely capture the markets, so that they can form cartels and raise the tariff to very high levels to maximise their profits unethically as is being done by the private electricity companies. They want to destroy the telecom PSUs completely. The above mentioned Editorial is part of this diabolical plan.
The land line is not a luxury. It is a necessity. It is a fixed part of the home, the office and any other establishment which can be contacted. it is not necessarily based on individual, but is part of the institution. Broadband connections are provided through the land line connections. The documents connected with landlines are proof of residence etc. Even in developed countries, the landlines exist in a big way. It is not a status symbol but a matter of necessity in the present state of affairs.

The BSNL/MTNL Management as well as the workers have to be fully aware of this new attack and counter the same to save BSNL/MTNL.