Cabinet approves Rs 89,047 crore revival plan for state-run BSNL: Report

Cabinet on Wednesday approved a revival plan for the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) worth Rs 89,047 crore, a report by CNBC-TV18 said. Earlier, the Centre had approved a capital infusion of Rs 52,937 crore in the telco in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

Last year, a revival plan of Rs 1.64 trillion was announced for BSNL, which was to be spent over four years. 70 per cent of this amount was to be extended within the first two years.

In May, BSNL issued advanced purchase orders worth Rs 15,000 crore to a TCS-led consortium. ITI Limited also received a contract for supplying 4G telecom gears worth Rs 3,889 crore.

“The total order is of over Rs 19,000 crore,” a senior government official was quoted in the report by news agency PTI.

TCS and a consortium, including state-run telecom technology development organisation C-DoT, will deploy around 1,00,000 4G sites for BSNL.

“The consortium led by Tata Consultancy Services Limited has received an Advance Purchase Order valued over Rs 15,000 crore from BSNL, a 100 per cent Govt of India-owned Public Sector Undertaking, for the deployment of a 4G network across India,” TCS said in a regulatory filing.

A Group of Ministers approved the proposal on May 8. As per the approval, 20 per cent of the total project has to be deployed by state-run ITI Limited.

ITI Ltd said it had bagged an advance purchase order worth Rs 3,889 crore from BSNL to deploy 23,633 sites for 4G services.