BSNL suffers Rs 50,631 crore loss in five years

NEW DELHI,MARCH 17:  State-owned telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) suffered a loss of Rs 50,631 crore in the past five years, informed the minister of state for communications Devusinh Chauhan on Wednesday.

However, the telco turned EBITDA positive (operating profit) in 2020-21 after the government approved a revival plan for BSNL. “As a result of these measures, BSNL has turned EBITDA positive (operating profit) in 2020-21,” informed the minister in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

To help BSNL, the government approved a revival plan in 2019. The plan includes inter-alia measures to reduce the Staff cost through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees of age 50 years and above, administrative allotment of spectrum for providing 4G services with funding through budgetary allocation, monetisation of non-core and core assets to generate resources to retire debt, meet CAPEX and other requirement and debt restructuring by raising of Sovereign Guarantee Bonds.  This year, the government allocated `84,586 crores to the telecommunication department in the budget.

Revival plan for BSNL

The telco turned EBITDA positive (operating profit) in 2020-21 after the government approved a revival plan for BSNL. To help BSNL, the government approved the plan in 2019.

-NIE