Thursday, April 11, 2019

BSNL, MTNL suffering due to decisions taken under UPA: Telecom Minister

PTI9_2_2015_000214A

Economy policy

Refuting Congress' allegations of harming the interests of BSNL and MTNL, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha Thursday said the two public sector companies have been suffering due to decisions taken under the UPA regime.

"Congress must do its homework before making false and baseless allegations against our economic policies. Both the PSUs have been suffering due to decisions taken under UPA regime. They were forced pay huge amount of money for spectrum," Sinha told PTI.

Both BSNL and MTNL were asked to match the 3G and BWA spectrum price determined in auctions that were held in 2010 across all circles where they operate.

The price of spectrum swelled multi-fold unexpectedly at the end of the auctions and both the PSUs had to shell out money for pan-India spectrum while other players had the option to choose service area for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.Both the PSUs have been making losses since 2009-10.

Last week, opposition Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of promoting firms of "his crony friends" at the expense of state-owned BSNL and MTNL.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused Modi of conspiring to close down public-sector telecom firms by not allowing them adequate finances to come out of the red.


 He alleged that BSNL's board has accepted three back-breaking suggestions that will destroy the future of 54,000 families -- of reducing retirement age from 60 to 58 years, voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and blocking allocation of 4G spectrum...Read More

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