BSNL's debt liability at Rs 7,667 cr, MTNL's at Rs 13,530 cr

State-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has an outstanding debt of Rs 7,667 crore, as on January 31. On the other hand, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) has an outstanding debt of Rs 13,530 crore, as of end-February, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

“BSNL’s debt is mainly due to its capital expenditure requirement. This requirement started in June 2010 after the payment of BWA and 3G spectrum charges to the tune of Rs 18,500 crore to the government,” Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. For MTNL, debt has been accrued due to a payment of Rs 11,098 crore for broadband wireless access (BWA) and 3G spectrum charges to the government in June 2010 after taking a loan of Rs 7,534 crore.

“MTNL incurred a loss of Rs 5,322 crore in 2012-13. Major factors responsible for this position of MTNL are high staff cost of Rs 4,904 crore (140 per cent of revenue). This includes actuarial valuation of retirement benefits to the tune of Rs 1,496 crore,” said Prasad.

The government has received proposals from BSNL and MTNL for financial assistance for their revival.

“These proposals are surrender with refund of BWA spectrum held by BSNL and MTNL, settlement of pension liabilities of MTNL, waiver of notional loan with BSNL, annual financial support to BSNL and MTNL to reduce staff costs, financial support to MTNL for liability arising from levy of MAT (minimum alternate tax) and proposal for hiving off mobile tower assets of BSNL into a separate company,” the minister added.

Some of the issues have already been settled by the government, which include surrender with refund of BWA spectrum in both service areas held by MTNL and six service areas of BSNL. “Under this head, Rs 4,533.97 crore has been refunded to MTNL through bonds and Rs 6,724.51 crore is being refunded to BSNL through budgetary resources,” Prasad said.

A financial support of Rs 492.3 crore has been given to MTNL on account of liability arising from levy of MAT and Rs 458 crore to MTNL and Rs 169.2 crore to BSNL are being refunded on account of surrender of CDMA spectrum.

“In addition, 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 added.