The Hindu Business Line : BSNL staff concerned at procurement delays

BSNL has been relegated to third position from second in GSM space. Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone recently acquired majority stake, has surpassed BSNL in subscriber base.

Hyderabad June 24 Employees of the State-owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, (BSNL) have expressed concern over the delay in procurement of GSM equipment, which they felt was hampering the operator's growth plans.

To express their concerns about the delay, the Sanchar Nigam Executives Association has announced its intent to hold lunch hour demonstrations here expressing solidarity with their unions across the country. The nationwide full-day dharnas have been planed for June 29.

In a statement, Mr P. Padmanabha Rao, Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Circle of Sanchar Nigam Executives Association, said nearly two months have now passed since Motorola had withdrawn the case from the Delhi High Court, but purchase order for procurement of the phase one of 45.5 million lines was yet to be placed.

According to them, this adversely reflects the state of affairs in which the interests of BSNL are being treated.

BSNL has been relegated to third position from second in GSM space. Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone recently acquired majority stake, has surpassed BSNL by recoding a growth of 5.4 per cent in its subscriber base during May 2007, with the addition of 1.5 million lines as against BSNL's relatively poor performance during the same period, he alleged.

Referring to performance in circles, the statement further highlighted that the States too reflected a similar situation wherein the BSNL number additions had been impacted by delays in equipment procurement.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Trade & Labour Unions | Andhra Pradesh

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