Ashwini Vaishnaw to BSNL: Customer is God, solve problems immediately

 NEW DELHI: Union Communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Friday told a section of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) employees to focus on the existing subscriber base, and drawing an analogy between customers and God, added that the government continues to stand by the telco throughout the revival roadmap.


"Prime minister Narendra Modi ji has given you a Rs 1.64 lakh crore which is a very big package. Now, the huge responsibility is on us to make sure that we make BSNL very strong. I am with you rock solid throughout this journey. The government is totally with you," Vaishnaw said to the telco's staff at Villivakkam exchange in Chennai.
In July this year, the Centre allowed a Rs 1.64 lakh crore package to revive state-run telecom carrier BSNL in order to make it competitive in the strategic sector.

"Now we have to be with our customers. Customer is God. Customer is king. Whatever problems customers face, they should become our problem, and solve them immediately. Focus on your customers," Vaishnaw said.

Currently, BSNL has close to 9.92% market pie as compared to private sector rivals -- Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- commanding a lion's share of the 1.20 billion customers.

By the end of April 30, 2022, the private telecom service providers held 89.79% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two public sector telcos had a market share of only 10.21%, according t o the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) statistics.

The minister also said that a new technology (4G) would be deployed on the backdrop of Make in India and Design in India soon, and the BSNL workforce should give full attention to its customer base.

The revival package also included Rs 44,993 crore for the administrative allocation of 4G airwaves.

Earlier, Vaishnaw asked the officials to start deploying a fifth generation or 5G network in tandem with the ambitious fourth generation (4G) network roll out, and the telco would have 20 crore 4G and 5G customers.

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), a state-owned telecom R&D firm, according to him, has been making progress in the 5G non-standalone (NSA) core network that is expected to be readied by the end of August, and the homegrown core equipment could be available for deployment in 2023.

Early this year, BSNL has awarded a Rs 550-crore worth of contract to TCS for setting up 6,000 sites, as a part of public sector firm's plans to deploy more than 1 lakh sites across the country for rolling out much-awaited commercial 4G network services.
Mumbai-based system integrator TCS-backed consortium together has been shortlisted to supply radio and core network equipment to BSNL.
Early this month, the minister in a warning to top BSNL officials asked to either perform or perish, and added, "You (BSNL employees) are working in a competitive industry, and only your work can save you. In the next 24 months, we want to see results."

In October 2019, the Cabinet, as a part of the initial revival package approved Rs 69,000 crore principally for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

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