The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the third revival package for BSNL with a total outlay of Rs 89,047 crore. It includes the allotment of 4G/5G spectrum for BSNL through equity infusion. The Cabinet allotted four spectrum bands – 700 MHz worth Rs 46,338.60 crore, 3,300 MHz for Rs 26,184.20 crore, 26 GHz for Rs 6,564.93 crore, and 2,500 MHz worth Rs 9,428.20 crore.
The authorized capital of BSNL will be increased from Rs. 1,50,000 crore to Rs. 2,10,000 crore. BSNL has been facing intense competition from Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea which have rolled out 4G services at low prices on voice calls and data. “With this revival package, BSNL will emerge as a stable telecom service provider focused on providing connectivity to remotest parts of India,” the cabinet said in a release.
The new spectrum allotment will enable BSNL to provide pan India 4G and 5G services, provide 4G coverage in rural and uncovered villages under various connectivity projects, provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services for high-speed internet, and provide services/spectrum for Captive Non-Public Network (CNPN).
However, this is not the first revival package for BSNL by the government. Before this, the centre had approved the first revival package in 2019 worth Rs 69,000 crore, which brought stability in BSNL/MTNL. In 2022, the second revival package was approved amounting to Rs 1.64 lakh crore. “It provided financial support for capex, viability gap funding for rural landlines, financial support for de-stressing the balance sheet, and settlement of AGR dues, merger of BBNL with BSNL, etc,” it said. With these packaged, BSNL started earning operating profits from FY 2021-22 and total debt of BSNL reduced from Rs 32,944 crore to Rs 22,289 crore.
The government also merged Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) with BSNL which gave BSNL an additional 5.67 lakh kms of optical fibre laid across 1.85 lakh village panchayats through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). BSNL has achieved strong growth in the home fiber segment and is providing more than 1 lakh new connections every month. Total home fiber subscriber base of BSNL in May 2023 is 30.88 lakh and the total revenue from home fiber last year was Rs 2,071 crore.
Earlier, loss for BSNL widened to Rs 8,161 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 6,982 crore. The increase in consolidated losses for the telecom operator during the year was due to the provision for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the government. During the year, the company made a provision of AGR dues worth Rs 17,688 crore, and received the viability gap funding of Rs 16,189 crore.
