BSNL, MTNL revenue growth lesser than private telcos: Govt

New Delhi: Rise in revenues of BSNL and MTNL lag those of private players because of less aggressive market skills, legacy manpower and delay in augmentation of mobile network, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

The minister said both the state-run firms are taking several steps to enhance revenues.

BSNL revenue increased by 2.32 per cent in 2014-15 to Rs 28,645 crore whereas MTNL witnessed an increase of 0.90 per cent to Rs 3,821 crore for the same period.

The revenue of BSNL stood at Rs 27,996 crore in 2013-14 while that of MTNL was Rs 3,787 crore.

"The increase in revenue of BSNL and MTNL in comparison to some private telecom companies is less due to reasons including less aggressive market skills of PSUs as compared to private companies, legacy manpower and delay in augmentation of mobile telecom network by the firms," Prasad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

The minister added there is decrease in subscriber base of landline connections due to shifting towards mobile services, which is also one of the reasons for less revenue increase.

"BSNL and MTNL are taking several steps to enhance revenues through investments to strengthen their network and focus on customer care and service delivery to improve revenue generation," Prasad said.

The minister said BSNL has planned installing 10,510 of 3G base transceiver stations (BTSs) and 14232 BTS for 2G.

BSNL also plans to install additional 9,600 of 3G BTS and replacing of 5300 old BTS. This will improve 2G and 3G network coverage and data capability.

Besides, BSNL has planned to make the entire wireline customer base network IP enabled and has launched various customer centric initiatives like night free calling, free roaming, increased minimum speed of broadband to 2 Mbps etc.

Regarding MTNL, the minister said the operator is taking steps for upgrading and expanding its existing network and is also exploring synergy with BSNL for its mobile services.

To separate query Prasad said a number of backlog vacancies are lying in BSNL due to non-availability of qualified candidates whereas in MTNL, the vacancies are due to change in recruitment process.

"There are backlog vacancies in BSNL due to non- availability of qualified candidates through open competitive examinations. In MTNL, there are a few backlog vacancies due to change in recruitment process," Prasad said.

In reply to a query if the government has noticed that bogus certificate of caste have been used for securing employment in BSNL and MTNL, the Minister said "Yes."

"The complaints/cases of bogus certificate of caste have been noticed in BSNL for securing employment. Action has been taken as per specified rule under DoPT. In MTNL, no such cases are noticed," he added.

Also, Prasad said there is no proposal under consideration of Department of Telecom (DoT) for voluntary retirement scheme for employees of BSNL and MTNL.