Anupam Shrivastava, the new Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), has his hands full within weeks of taking over. In an interview with Mansi Taneja, he talks about an investment plan of Rs 39,000 crore over the next five years to expand BSNL’s core network and reviving the public sector undertaking in the next three years. Edited Excerpts:

BSNL has been making losses and performance has dipped on other fronts. What is your immediate priority?

BSNL has been making losses mainly because of depreciation of assets and administrative costs, which account for 55 per cent of our revenue. However, we are meeting operational needs through our topline. With a topline of Rs 28,000 crore and debt of Rs 4,500 crore, the situation is not that bad. The first priority is to change the direction of the company in such a way that losses are reduced year after year and there is enough compensation on depreciating assets.

What measures are you taking?

We realised we missed the mobile bus in 2006 when the penetration of cell phones was just 40-45 per cent. Now the penetration of mobiles has moved up to over 90 per cent. This is the journey, mainly voice, that BSNL has missed. But we want to make sure we are the leaders in data services. The age of voice is over and data is the next thing. We are in a strategic position, be it mobile, landline or optic fibre network.

How do you plan to leverage your network? Are there plans to integrate services?

We have invested Rs 4,084 crore in improving and expanding our mobile services. We are in the process of upgrading our core network. Purchase orders were placed last year and the network started rolling out in June. Almost 75 per cent of the project has been completed in the north and south zones. In the east, 35 per cent has been completed and work in the west has just begun.

We have a big landline base and with a huge copper cable and fibre network the focus shifts to Wifi. We will offer Wifi hotspots wherever commercially viable and offer an experience similar to 4G services. Also, we plan to launch our 4G service by 2016. The idea is to integrate Wifi with our mobile network to provide users a seamless experience of 3G and Wifi services.

We plan to invest Rs 39,000 crore in the next five years, a major chunk of it on data. The focus is on improving core network capabilities as we intend to exploit data. This is going to be a watershed year.

How much of your revenue comes from data?

Mobile services contribute Rs 13,500 crore, of which 10 per cent comes from the data segment and is consistently rising. From broadband services, we earn Rs 7,500 crore. We expect revenue from combined data and broadband services of Rs 15,000-16,000 crore in the next three years.

There was a proposal to offer voluntary retirement to your employees. How far has that gone?

The proposal was debated last year and would have required a Rs 12,000 crore outgo. But there were doubts over the plan. An alternative proposal was considered to offer salary support to employees. It would require Rs 6,500 crore, which the ministry agreed in principle to provide as a soft loan. Both proposals are pending with the ministry.

Last year, BSNL’s losses were around Rs 7,600 crore and in the previous year, around Rs 8,000 crore. So losses have already started coming down. We expect BSNL’s accounts to be in shape by 2018-19. (Courtesy: Business Standard)

A study into the impacts of reservations in public sector jobs on efficiency and productivity has revealed that there has been no reduction in productivity. On the contrary, productivity and efficiency have increased in some sectors. The report of the study, the first of its kind, by Ashwini Deshpande, Professor, Delhi School of Economics and  Thomas Weisskopf, Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan, was published in the World Development journal. The study was conducted on Group A and B level officers recruited from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Indian Railways between 1980 and 2002. 

                                                                                                            ( source: The Hindu )

The National Convention of Pensioners Organisations scheduled to be held at Nagpur on 15th February, 2015 stands postponed. The decision in this regard has been communicated by Com. B. P. Petkar, General Secretary, Co-ordination Committee of Pensioners Associations, Nagpur who is hosting the National Convention. The postponement is warranted due to hospitalization of Com. S. K. Vyas, Secretary General, BCPC &NCCPA who has undergone angioplasty at a Jaipur hospital.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has  decided to revive the strike programme for a reasonable wage agreement. Earlier, it has deferred the one day strike as well as the 4 days strike following little progress in the negotiations with Indian Banks Association. But it expressed unhappiness on the continued negative stand by IBA on the wage revision talks.

Now, as per the new time schedule announced by UFBU, the four days strike will be from 25th February and the indefinite strike from 16th March, 2015. The strike is being called at a time when the Parliament will be in session and is meant to draw the attention of the union government on this vital issue.

Com. VAN Namboodiri, Advisor, AIBDPA, met Shri Rakesh Agrawal, Member (Services), DOT, today, 3rd February,  and discussed about the delay in finalising the Cabinet Note on 78.2% IDA pension fixation for the BSNL retired employees, pre-2007 as well as post-2007. Com.Namboodiri expressed the plight of the retirees, who are losing substantial amount of pension and pressed for early finalisation. Member(Services) stated that it has been sent to Finance. Com.Namboodiri tried to meet Member (Finance), but she was in a conference and could not meet. It was assured by the Secretary that the Note will be finalised early about two weeks back, but still the same is not finalised. But it is understood that it is in the final stage.