The country's telecom subscriber base grew marginally to 1,183.77 million in April on account of net mobile customers gain by Reliance Jio and state-run telecom firm BSNL, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) report released Monday.

Notwithstanding the delay in the allotment of 4G spectrum, state-run telecom player BSNL has readied an investment plan of Rs 10,000 crore for the deployment of 4G network.

It has already started offering 4G VoLTE services through its 3G spectrum with new base transceiver stations (BTSs) in all circles where it already offers 3G services.

BSNL is expected to provide salaries for May on time, which is the last working day of the month. “We are comfortable…We will be able to pay salaries on time this month,” BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava said.

The company has recently tied up with State Bank of India for a Rs 1,500-crore loan to meet its working capital requirements, based on a letter of comfort extended by Department of Telecom.

State-owned BSNL is confident of making timely payment of staff salaries for the month of May, Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said Monday. The company has also tied up with State Bank of India recently for a Rs 1,500 crore loan to meet its working capital requirements, based on a letter of comfort extended by Department of Telecom (DoT). “We are comfortable…We will be able to pay salaries on time this month,” Shrivastava told PTI.

Revival of ailing telecom public sector firms, 5G technology trials and a new round of spectrum auction will be among the top priorities for the new government.

Some of the crucial decisions have been pending owing to the general elections for the past few months.

New Delhi: After facing cash crunch for some months, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is expecting normalcy in cash flows in the second quarter (July-September) of FY20, according to the BSNL Director (Finance) who blamed the "predatory pricing" for the current crisis in the sector and in the BSNL.

New Delhi: The Department of Telecom is learnt to have circulated a draft cabinet note for the allocation of 4G spectrum to BSNL and MTNL and implementation of a voluntary retirement scheme at the two loss-making telecom PSUs.

The department has sought comments of the key ministries on the proposals, an official source told PTI.

The BSNL board has given its approval to lay off 54,000 employees. Besides, in a further move to save costs, the state owned firm has also reduced the retirement age of its employees to 58 years.

According to a report published in the Deccan Herald, the BSNL board approved three out of 10 suggestions by the board set up by the government.

Cash-strapped telecom player BSNL, which faced issues with salary payments last month, plans to hive off its fibre assets into a separate company, which is expected to have a valuation of Rs 10,000-15,000 crore.

BSNL has about eight lakh route km of fibre infrastructure across India compared with Reliance Jio with 4.78 lakh route km (including 178,000 route km that it acquired from Reliance Communications) and Airtel’s 2.46 lakh route km and Vodafone Idea’s 1.56 lakh km, according to estimates.

State-owned telecom firm BSNL plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore through soft loans immediately in order to meet its operational expenses.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given a letter of comfort to the cash-starved BSNL for raising loans, which is a guarantee from the government.

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