The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged a massive financial lapse by state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which failed to bill Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) for passive infrastructure usage for a decade. This resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore to the government exchequer between May 2014 and March 2024, the audit report revealed on Tuesday, as per a PTI report.
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BSNL Did Not Enforce MSA
According to CAG, BSNL did not enforce the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Reliance Jio, failing to charge for additional technology used on its infrastructure. The report also pointed out a Rs 38.36 crore loss due to BSNL’s failure to deduct the license fee from payments made to Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIPs), according to the report.
"BSNL failed to enforce the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with M/s. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) and did not bill for the additional technology used on BSNL's shared passive infrastructure, resulting in loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore and penal interest thereon, between May 2014 to March 2024 to the government exchequer," CAG said, as per the report.
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Short Billing by BSNL
Further, CAG also noted that there was a short billing of passive infrastructure sharing charge by BSNL.
"Non-adherence to the terms and conditions laid down in the MSA with RJIL by BSNL and non-application of the escalation clause resulted in a loss of revenue of Rs 29 crore (including GST) towards infrastructure sharing charges," the statement reportedly said.
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This CAG finding report is another such finding by government agencies in recent times surrounding Reliance Jio, which was previously allegedly cited in a tax dispute concerning Samsung over 4G telecom equipment.
