The state-owned BSNL has sought financial help from the government to roll out its WiMAX rural project, failing which it would only be able to achieve one-sixth of the total area it is obliged to cover.

The company had earlier sought reimbursement of Rs 18,500 crore which the company had to pay to the government by way of spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless access. Of this Rs 8,313 was only for payment for spectrum for BWA. However, the government had rejected the demand.

This time based on the revised spectrum cost, BSNL has written to the department of information (DIT) requesting for an additional grant of Rs 2,395 crore on the WiMAX rural project to enable the company to at least realise the expenditure on the project on a no profit/loss basis. The letter to the joint secretary, DIT by BSNL has said that the company is seeking only Rs 2,395 crore against rural deployment of 7,863 WiMAX BTS and the company has absorbed Rs 6,650 crore as its own cost by appropriating 20% spectrum cost.

?In case the DIT rejects the request, the company would be forced to limit the WiMAX deployment to 1,798 BTS as per the DIT grant received so far,? the letter has stated.

The DIT has so far not agreed to the requests of the telecom operator.

Ever since the auction, which realised approximately Rs 1.06 lakh crore to the government both the state-run telecom operators ? BSNL and MTNL ? have urged the government to reimburse them for the huge cash outgo since the bid prices went far beyond expectations of both the companies. The two companies had got the spectrum ahead of the auctions but they were supposed to match the highest bid.

The communications and IT minister A Raja had written to the finance minister requesting the two state-run companies be reimbursed the financial outflow citing their social responsibility, including obligation to provide rural connectivity. MTNL has paid Rs 11,097.97 crore as the price for 3G and BWA spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai while BSNL has paid Rs 18,500 crore for all the other circles.

The two firms had dipped into their cash reserves to pay the amount. BSNL posted its first annual loss since inception in 2009-10 at Rs 1,822.