The decision to offload 66,000 mobile towers of BSNL will decisively pull back the public sector telecom behemoth from its growth path, says the All India Public Sector and Central Government Officers’ Confederation.

BSNL employees are determined to pay any price to safeguard the existing integrated and time tested corporate structure of BSNL, said D.T. Franco, Secretary-General, and V.K. Tomar, president of the confederation.

'PROLONGED ACTION'

The confederation represents 13 lakh officers from the banking, insurance, telecom, power, oil, defence, railway, dock and pharmaceutical sectors as also those drawn from the gazetted ranks.

It has threatened massive and prolonged trade union action to force the government to reverse its 'retrograde' decision.

Robbing BSNL of what the confederation described as a resouce of great potential is nothing but a definite move towards its disinvestment and eventual privatisation.

Franco and Tomar said employee unions and associations in BSNL held a lunch-time demonstration on September 15. This will be followed by other prolonged modes of trade union action.

Officers and workmen in the entire public sector will mobilise people against this move, they added.

'RENT FOR OWN ASSETS'

BSNL has 1.3 lakh 2G/3G base transceiver stations (BTS) installed on its towers. Further expansion worth Rs 6,000 crore is planned in which it would install another 40,000 BTSs.

Creation of a subsidiary tower company will lead to disinvestment in BSNL or strategic sale of the subsidiary. Thus, in future, BSNL will be forced to pay rent for the BTSs installed on towers once owned by it.

“Ever since privatisation in the telecom sector, BSNL has helped the Government effectively implement telecom policies, maintain competitiveness in the telecom market and defeat cartelisation.”

BSNL is also the only operator meeting the social obligations of the telecom policies by providing services to the remote areas, the North-East, and the rural interior.

BRAVING ODDS

BSNL has also braved all odds to maintain a growth trajectory when all other service providers were in complete disarray and turmoil.

The government should have duly acknowledged and taken cognisance off this instead of deciding to destabilise and disintegrate it, the confederation leaders said.

All similar decisions of the government relating to central PSUS have not only proved counter-productive but have also crippled them.

The leaders also took exception to the fact that several other BSNL proposals for monetising its assets and pumping up growth have been gathering dust in the telecom department.

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