The Hindu : National : Save BSNL, Yechury urges Manmohan

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Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008
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Save BSNL, Yechury urges Manmohan

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in procuring new mobile lines for the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited as it faced a rapidly shrinking market share in the fast expanding mobile market.

In a letter to Dr. Singh, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Member of Parliament Sitaram Yechury said that without urgent measures to augment the mobile lines capacity, BSNL would slip further.

“It is clear that the major thrust in voice telephone is the mobile market. BSNL was denied entry till quite late and is now being hamstrung from competing, with the Ministry of Communications holding up all its vital procurement. If this state of affairs continues, it can only result in destruction of this vital public sector undertaking. People will remember that the call rates for the mobile sector were exorbitant until MTNL/BSNL entered the fray.”

Releasing the letter to the press, Mr. Yechury said that “killing BSNL” would not only destroy public capital to the tune of Rs. 2,50,000 crore to Rs. 5,00,000 crore but also remove the only check that the subscribers had on call rates.

Why focus on IPO?

Mr. Yechury said it was surprising that the focus of the Department of Telecommunications was on bringing out an Initial Public Offer (IPO) for BSNL.

“An IPO may require to be raised if the company concerned does not have enough internal resources and, therefore, requires capital to be raised from the market. In this case, BSNL has cash reserves to the order of Rs. 45,000 crore. It is not able to spend this money as it has not been allowed to float a tender for new lines and is not being allowed to invest in improving its existing infrastructure,” he said.

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