Revival plan under government's active consideration: BSNL

Crisis-ridden Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Thursday asserted that a plan for revival of the state-owned company is under active consideration of the government. The plan entails giving suitable package comprising components like voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and 4G spectrum and allowing monetization of assets available with BSNL, the company said.

"...it is clarified that there is a plan under active consideration for the revival of BSNL by Government of India by giving suitable package in terms of VRS/4G spectrum and allowing monetization of assets available with BSNL," it said in a statement. BSNL said it has served the nation especially during difficult times of natural calamities and provides affordable services throughout India even at remote corners.

"We shall continue to do so in future," it added. Distressed telecom firms Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and BSNL have been incurring losses and have been facing problems in clearing staff salaries in the recent past.

BSNL's loss is estimated to be around Rs 14,000 crore with a decline in revenue to Rs 19,308 crore during 2018-19. The public sector firm's provisional loss was Rs 4,859 crore in 2015-16, Rs 4,793 crore in 2016-17, Rs 7,993 crore in 2017-18 and is estimated to swell to Rs 14,202 crore in 2018-19, according to information presented in Parliament. The number of employees in BSNL stood at about 1,65,179.