JAN 11, 2010 13:00

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11Jan.2010                        PM forms committee to arrest BSNL's falling revenues

               Concerned over deteriorating financial health and competitiveness of state-run telecom firm BSNL, the government has constituted a high-level committee, headed by Sam Pitroda and Deepak Parekh as member, to look into the issues and give recommendations within a month. This was decided at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week to review the performance of two telecom PSUs - BSNL and MTNL. There was an agreement that the situation of BSNL required immediate action to address both the short as well as long term issues affecting its financial health and competitiveness," the Prime Minster's Office (PMO) said here. On the position of another PSU - MTNL (that offers services only in two metros of Delhi and Mumbai) - was comparatively better and the issues concerning it be considered in the normal course, separately, it added. The committee, headed by Pitroda, Adviser to PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, would also look into BSNL's ongoing Rs 35,000 crore GSM expansion tender.
            The tender has been marred by controversies and is in limbo since last more than a year and the PSU has not been able to place the order affecting its market share in the fastest growing mobile telephony. "It was felt that the approach to be followed for addressing the issues concerning BSNL required assessment and inputs of experts," the PMO said, adding the committee would have Deepak Parikh, a noted banker, and Telecom Secretary P J Thomas as other members and they have been asked to give recommendations within a month.
            BSNL's revenues dipped by about 12 per cent in 2008-09 to over Rs 33,000 crore but its market share especially in the mobile telephony took much bigger hit as it came down to fifth place from the third in last four years.
           According to PMO, the issue of BSNL's GSM phase-VI tender (to add 93 million lines) was also briefly discussed and it was agreed that the committee under Pitroda  may look into it in its totality and suitably advise the Department of Telecom. Sources also said that the meeting also considered disinvestments in BSNL at the earliest in order to improve its working to match the private sector. This however is being opposed by the employees unions and the Telecom Minister A Raja has various rounds of negotiations with them to move forward on this. PTI News ET Reports

  9Jan.2010                          BSNL set to go off divestment list for now

         BSNL  is not part of the list of dozen odd state-run firms that are slated to hit the market next fiscal, with the government worried that the current valuations of the telecom major and the mining firm are nowhere near their potential.

      The disinvestments department estimates that BSNL will be able to command a valuation of only around Rs 58,000 crore, which is just about half of what it was valued in 2008, said a finance ministry official.

         The government would now want the firm to tap capital markets only after a major restructuring aimed at unlocking their potential value, said another official at the finance ministry.

       BSNL- the telecom firm that runs fixed and mobile telephony services across India except the metros of Mumbai and Delhi, is sitting on cash reserves of more than Rs 40,000 crore. However, the firm has been making huge operating losses in the past two years, and has evaded the red so far only because of the interest it earns from its reserves. The firm ran out of capacity to expand cellular services nearly 18 months ago, and no new major contracts for mobile networks and equipment have been awarded in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s IT advisor, Sam Pitroda, told reporters in Mumbai that "there is no move to merge BSNL and MTNL”. However, the government is considering selling a part of its stakes in BSNL and will move in quickly in that direction, he added.

7Jan.2010                        BSNL may get licence-fee relief to regain lost ground

        State-owned telecom major BSNL may be exempted from sharing 6-10% of its annual revenues as licence fee levy with the Govt leading to annual savings of over Rs 4,000 crore, after the PSU presented its case before the prime minister’s office (PMO) on Wednesday. The PMO is looking into this proposal in a bid to help the telco revive its fortunes, make up lost ground to private operators and remain competitive in the world’s fastest-growing telecom market.
The PMO also conceded a suggestion for immediate sale of 10% government equity in the telecom giant. The meeting reviewed challenges before the telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, including issues of expansion. The PMO has called for a meeting with the communications ministry to discuss the plight of BSNL, especially with regard to its declining revenues and market share.

      “We discussed with the PMO about the licence fee waiver for BSNL. As the first step, we sought the waiver for fixed line services in rural India. We had already approved this policy change, but it could not be implemented (from January 1, 2009 due to objections from the finance ministry). Rural licence fee waiver alone will enable BSNL to save about Rs 1,800 crore annually,” communications minister A Raja told ET after the late evening meet with the PMO. BSNL’s CMD Kuldeep Goyal and officials from the department of telecom (DoT) were also present at the meeting.

       In its presentation to the PMO, Mr Raja and his ministry pointed out that as per the National Telecom Policy of 1999 (NTP ‘99), state-owned telcos are exempted from paying licence fee. It was also highlighted that despite this Clause in NTP 99, BSNL had been paying between 6% and 10% of its annual revenues (depending on the area of operation) to the Center as licence fee. Besides, it was also pointed out that BSNL requires about Rs 8,774 crore in capital expenditure to support its unviable wireline operations, especially in rural India.

        One of the several factors that led to the PMO calling for a meet to review BSNL’s performance could have been a demand by independent MP and member of the standing committee on finance, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had sought the urgent intervention of the prime minister into the deteriorating financial situation at the PSU. Besides, BSNL’s move to put its 93 million lines GSM contract ‘on hold’, had also triggered concerns. ET Bureau               

  6Jan.2010      GMT SATARA  Sh. A.V.KULKARNI   Transferred  to KALYAN SSA  and  GMT KALYAN Sh.P.K.LONDHE

 will join as GMT SATARA. We WELCOME SH LONDHE Sir, to SATARA SSA <<CLICK ORDER>>

  2 Jan.2010          We are very sorry to inform all our viewers ,well wishers of SNEA(I) Satara that Shri. A.G.Joshi  Ex. C/S TEOA(I) MH, Ex-President SNEA(I) MH, Ex-CWC ,Area Secretary of JTOA(I)MH  Resigned from the Basic membership of SNEA(I) Satara.

              It is reported by Shri. A.G.Joshi that due to indifferent behavior and allegations made by Hon. C/S  M.S.Adsul in his mail to DS SNEA(I) Satara against him compelled com.Joshi to resign.

             The matter is discussed with com. S.V.Bhad President SNEA(I)MH and the issues related  to the repayments of loss in HRA from SNEA(I)MH  to Hon. C/S due to change in residence from own house to Dept.Qtrs.and many more issues as reported by com. A.G.Joshi.  

6Jan.2010        DoT told BSNL for speedy construction of alternate network for Defence

    Concerned over the delay in creating alternate network for the armed forces, which would be crucial to get the spectrum vacated, theDepartment of Telecom has asked BSNL to expedite the work and set a new mechanism. The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure had approved the proposal for an 'alternate communication network project', to be implemented on a mission mode by BSNL, and a team with the  CMD, BSNL as the mission director was to be constituted with representatives from the Defence and DoT.
   According to an internal note by DoT joint secretary JS Deepak, "I understand that the team has not been constituted and this matter was adversely viewed during the review meeting taken by the high-level monitoring committee under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary at a meeting last week."
Sources said any delay in the project could affect the forthcoming auction of 3G spectrum as the Defence Ministry has to vacate the airwaves only after this project
    BSNL has expressed concern on the cost of the project going up as the states are asking for right of way compensation (for digging the land to lay optical fibre).
    According to sources, the Cabinet Secretary has asked BSNL to recover the costs from the end-users/subscribers or even by making of additional plan provisions.
   "Under no situation, the optical fibre communication network for the armed forces should be delayed," the Cabinet Secretary is understood to have said at the last review meeting held on December 24.

  5Jan.2010                                 A telecom revolution this decade            

1999: National Telecom Policy '99 (NTP 99) ushers in the revenue-sharing regime from a fixed licence fee. Makes a stronger business case for operators; tariffs drop

2000: Department of Telecom’s services arm is hived off and BSNL is born

2001: Fourth cellular operator allowed in each circle, competition hots up. Till then, there were two private operators per circle. PSUs MTNL and BSNL held the third slot

2003: January - Reliance Infocomm is first to roll out CDMA services; introduces game-changing tariffs at 40 paise per minute. It triggers technology war between CDMA and GSM platforms

May: Calling Party Pays regime ushered in. Incoming calls turn free; mobile usage goes up

November: Unified Access Service Licence allows operators to offer any type of service using any technology including cellular, fixedline, NLD and ILD, internet, radio paging. Customer gains from lower prices and more value-added services

2005 - Motorola rolls out first Made in India mobile at Rs 1,700

Tata Teleservices launches 'Non Stop Life' scheme with two-year validity

Others counter it with Lifetime Validity plans, allowing incoming calls free for life without recharging

2006: India becomes the fifth country to have 100 million mobile subscribers

2007: Indian telecom comes of age with India's biggest cross-border M&A. Vodafone buys 67% in Hutchison Essar for $11.08 billion, valuing the company at $18 billion

Government allots licences to new players; Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications get okay for offering GSM-based services as well 

2009: India gets a taste of 3G as PSUs, BSNL and MTNL launch services like video calling and movie downloads on mobile Per-second billing comes in. Rates crash and so do bills. Operators’ revenues dwindle India joins 500 million mobile users club ET Bureau

   4Jan.2010                                APPEAL FROM CHQ

   Comrades of SNEA(India) throughout country --- be ready to courageously and fearlessly defeat the deadly conspiracy to dig last nail in the coffin of BSNL by the decision of vested interests and the bureaucrats in DoT to put on hold crucial 93 million GSM tender. Make serious preparation to come out openly on the streets to expose the worst possible conspiracy to slaughter BSNL once for all. It is a do or die situation for us --- now or never.