The Hindu Business Line : BSNL to recruit recovery agents

BSNL Principal General Manager, Mr P. Ganesh told newspersons that the corporation wants to hire professionals to recover the dues. He said this would ease the burden on the existing staff, who could be deployed for other work.

Mr Ganesh said dues were from individuals as well as from corporate houses. He did not specify who owed the most. He said the number of defaulters had gone up over the last two years. He expected at least 40 per cent of the dues to be recovered during the exercise, adding that such an exercise was carried out in Chennai circle before and it had proved to be successful.

He said subscribers of even CellOne, the mobile operations of BSNL, had defaulted and the amount was around Rs 35 crore. BSNL has already advertised for recruiting recovery agents from banks, financial institutions and other debt recovery companies.

In another development, BSNL has decided to offer discount in its tariff for the leased line customers. For 2 mbps and above and up to 34 mbps, the discount will be 30 per cent for Internet service providers (ISPs) and for other customers, it is as high as 60 per cent.

For more than 34 mbps and up to 155 mbps, the discount for ISPs is 40 per cent and for other customers it is 60 per cent; and for over 155 mbps, it is 50 per cent for ISPs and 60 per cent for other customers.

BSNL has also rationalised the security deposit for new telephone connections. The security deposit for local calls is Rs 1,000; for connections, local calls and an STD facility, it is Rs 2,000; and for local calls, with STD and ISD facilities, the security deposit is Rs 3,000.

Customers can also subscribe for a second telephone line exclusively for an Internet connection. However, customers cannot make calls on this connection. The monthly rental for this telephone line is Rs 499, though access charges will be separate and can be availed of from any of the Internet service providers.