Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) recently got Rs 5,000 crore from the centre. This money is the first tranche of payment that has been released to the company out of its Rs 1.64 lakh crore revival package. According to a CNBC-Awaaz report, the Rs 5,000 crore will help BSNL in making payments to the vendors. BSNL will finally be able to return the dues to the vendors, which have been pending for years now. Vendors, including ITI Limited, Tejas Networks, VNL, HFCL, STL and others, will get their money from BSNL.
The report from the new channel mentioned that BSNL would start clearing the dues of the vendors in the next 15 days. This would alleviate some concerns of the vendors who have not received their dues for multiple years now. BSNL will be further getting monetary help from the government to fund its 4G capex spending. The government had announced that it would also pay BSNL in the form of viability gap funding for offering services in rural areas of India.
Govt Wants BSNL to Become Profitable Again
The centre wants BSNL to turn profitable again. That is why this relief package has been announced. BSNL needed a push to come back on track and launch 4G network services using homegrown technology. But the state-run telco's 4G network launch is still something that Indians would have to wait for reportedly because of issues in the procurement of equipment.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, union telecom minister of India, had said that BSNL employees would need to work hard or else they would be sent home. This is the right time for BSNL to make moves that would set it back in competition with the private telcos. But the delays in the 4G launch aren't going to help the company. Hopefully, we can see something related to BSNL's 4G networks by the end of this year.
