Govt to merge BSNL, MTNL; unveils Rs 68,751-cr revival package
October 23, 2019  19:07
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The government on Wednesday approved a Rs 68,751-crore revival package for loss-making BSNL and MTNL, including 4G spectrum allocation and voluntary retirement scheme, as well as their merger.
The Union Cabinet also approved merger of the state-owned telecom firms and till the completion of the process, MTNL will operate as a subsidiary of BSNL, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here while sharing details of the revival package.
The package includes raising of Rs 15,000 crore sovereign bonds to meet the immediate capital requirement of both the companies, 4G spectrum allocation worth Rs 20,140 crore, Rs 29,937 crore for VRS covering 50 per cent of their employees, and Rs 3,674 crore for goods and services tax that will be levied on allocation of radiowaves.
"In case of BSNL and MTNL, the government's view is clear. These are strategic assets of India. The entire army network is maintained by BSNL.
"The VRS package approved by the Cabinet will give eligible employees 125 per cent of income that they would have earned by serving the company till the age of 60 years. With this decision, we have taken care of the interest of lakhs of employees of these PSUs," Prasad said.
BSNL has around 1.68 lakh employees and MTNL around 22,000.
"The VRS is voluntary; nobody can be forced to opt for it," Prasad said.
The total debt on both the companies stood at Rs 40,000 crore, of which half of the liability is on MTNL alone which operates in Delhi and Mumbai.

Both the companies have been demanding spectrum to start 4G services to remain competitive in the market.
 
-- PTI
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