Cabinet nods at Rs 89,047 crore revival plan for BSNL

Sources reported that the Cabinet has accorded approval to a revival package worth Rs 89,047 crore for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

BSNL has faced significant challenges due to its inadequate infrastructure and has been severely impacted by fierce competition from Jio, the wireless division of Reliance Industries, as well as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. These competitors have introduced affordable 4G services for voice calls and data, putting BSNL at a disadvantage.

Further, as the news of the BSNL revival plan surfaced, shares of state-owned telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) surged about 12%.

Previous reports suggested that the government was considering shutting down Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), a financially struggling telecommunications company. However, new plans have emerged to transfer MTNL’s employees and operations to BSNL instead. This plan replaces the earlier proposal of merging the two state-owned telecom companies.

BSNL previously awarded ITI, a central public sector undertaking, a significant advance purchase order (APO) valued at Rs 3,889 crore for the deployment of its 4G network.

Under the government’s 4G saturation plan, BSNL has been given the responsibility to ensure connectivity in remote areas.

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