PMO calls meeting on BSNL on Jan 6

The Prime Ministers' Office has convened a meeting with the Telecom Ministry on January 6 to discuss the issues plaguing the state-run telco BSNL, including its declining revenues and market share.

The Prime Ministers' Office has convened a meeting with the Telecom Ministry on January 6 to discuss the issues plaguing the state-run telco BSNL, including its declining revenues and market share.

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The meeting comes amid the ongoing controversy over its mega Rs 35,000-crore tender for adding 93 million GSM lines, and this issue may also come up for discussion.

"The January 6 meeting was fixed long ago by the PMO. It will discuss a number of issues concerning BSNL to improve its performance. But it is not exactly to discuss the tender and the CVC probe into it. It may discuss expansion plans as a whole," BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal told PTI here today.

It could not be ascertained whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair the meeting or the PMO officials will meet the top bras of the country's largest telco.

Concerned over BSNL's falling revenues, the PMO had asked the company top brass and Telecom Minister A Raja to look into causes and find ways to improve the performance. The PSU had reported the lowest net profit among the telcos of a paltry Rs 575 crore on revenue of about Rs 36,000 crore last fiscal.

Besides, BSNL has been consistently losing market share in the mobile telephony business due to the stiff competition by private players and its inability to expand network on time. BSNL has failed to undertake any capacity addition in the mobile network space in the last two years. Its latest 93 million GSM lines contract has run into a Central Vigilance Commission probe, stalling the expansion.