BSNL Employees Union Express Displeasure Over Reliance Jio Expansion in Ladakh

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Employees Union (EU) on Thursday said that the government of India is promoting Reliance Jio while offering only “lip service” to BSNL. The BSNLEU voiced their concerns following a tweet from Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, MP of Ladakh who said that the government has sanctioned 54 Jio mobile towers for the uncovered rural areas of Ladakh. Namgyal said that the new towers would be covered under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), a government initiative designed to provide universal telecom service to all uncovered areas across India.

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BSNLEU Says Government Blocked BSNL 4G Tender

The 54 Jio mobile towers are said to be spread across four regions of Ladakh including the Nubra, Leh, Zanskar and Kargil.

“Money will be paid from the USO Fund,” BSNLEU said in the release. “But, the towers will be installed not by BSNL, but by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.”

In terms of the regional breakdown, Reliance Jio has been given the nod to set-up seven towers in Nubra, 11 in Zanskar, 17 in Leh and 19 in Kargil.

“It is also important to note that, the same Modi government has blocked BSNL’s 4G tender, thus stopping BSNL from rolling out it’s 4G service. Everybody think that BSNL is the government service provider. Now, everyone has understand that, Reliance Jio is the government service provider [sic],” BSNLEU said in the release.

Namgyal said in a separate tweet that he had a conversation with Ravi Shankar Prasad, electronics and information technology minister of India over the Reliance Jio expansion. Further, Namgyal said that in the conversation with Prasad, he “ensured him for my personal supervision in installation within a limited span of time.”