Salaries of BSNL, MTNL staff paid till November: MoS Communications

 New Delhi: Salaries of BSNL and MTNL employees are up-to-date and have been paid till November 2021, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. For the two state-owned telecom corporations, BSNL and MTNL, stiff competition in the mobile segment and absence of 4G services (except in a few locations for BSNL) in the data-centric telecom market are eroding their competitive strength, Minister of State for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

To a question on whether the staff of MTNL and BSNL have not received their salaries for several months due to losses the companies are facing, the minister said, "Salaries of BSNL and MTNL employees are up to date and have been paid up to November 2021".

The administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services was approved in 2019 with government support to BSNL as part of the revival package.

BSNL is currently undertaking Proof of Concept testing for deployment of indigenous 4G technology, he said.

To another question, Chauhan informed that BSNL's losses have narrowed to Rs 7,441 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 15,500 crore in the previous fiscal.

MTNL's losses were at Rs 2,454 crore in 2020-21 against Rs 3,811 crore in 2019-20.

"The losses of BSNL/ MTNL are on account of reduction in revenue and increased competition leading to tariff reduction," Chauhan said.

The revival plan approved in 2019 -- which included several measures, including Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to lower staff costs, administrative allotment of spectrum for providing 4G services, and other steps -- are "expected to help BSNL turn around and remain competitive".

In a separate question on reasons for not merging BSNL and MTNL, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while the revival plan of 2019 had included an in-principle nod for merger of the two entities, "due to financial reasons, including high debt of MTNL, the merger of MTNL with BSNL has been deferred".

"Close co-operation and service integration between BSNL and MTNL has, however, been undertaken," Vaishnaw said.