New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 1.64 lakh crore package for the revival of state-owned telecom firm BSNL, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The revival measures approved by the Cabinet focus on fresh capital for upgrading services, allocating spectrum, de-stressing its balance sheet and augmenting its fibre network by merging Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL) with BSNL.
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Briefing reporters on the decision taken by the Union Cabinet, he said the package has a cash component of Rs 43,964 crore and a non-cash component of Rs 1.2 lakh crore spread over four years.
Fact file
- The government will make administrative allocation of spectrum BSNL needs to offer 4G services. The allocation of spectrum in 900/1800 MHz band at the cost of Rs 44,993 crore would be through equity infusion.
- To meet the projected capital expenditure for next four years, the government will fund capex of Rs 22,471 crore for developing 4G technology stack.
- The government will provide Rs 13,789 crore to BSNL as viability-gap funding for commercially unviable rural wireline operations done during 2014-15 to 2019-20.
- To de-stress the balance sheet, Rs 33,404 crore statutory dues will be converted into equity.
- The government will provide sovereign guarantees for raising money to repay current loans, he said.
- To facilitate wider utilisation of infrastructure laid under BharatNet, BBNL will be merged with BSNL, he said.
- The infrastructure created under BharatNet will continue to be a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to all the Telecom Service Providers.
- The Union Cabinet has also approved a project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country at a total cost of Rs 26,316 crore.
- The project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas.
