Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier this week to review the plans for revival of the state-run BSNL.
At the meeting that lasted 45 minutes, a presentation was made to Mr. Modi on the initiatives planned for the loss-making PSU, sources said. Senior officials of the Department of Telecom and BSNL were present.
The government is keen on reviving BSNL and MTNL that are facing stiff competition from private players.
“The Prime Minister is very keen on the revival of the PSU. He wanted a complete presentation on the entire working of BSNL, and the legacy issues faced by the company were outlined to him,” a source said.
In the past, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said BSNL, which runs a large network nationwide, earned a profit of Rs. 10,000 crore when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government left office in 2004. However, in 2014, it suffered a loss of Rs 7,500 crore. The government’s efforts, Mr Prasad said, were bearing fruit as BSNL’s revenue went up 2.1 per cent during 2014-15 and the number of active subscribers rose by 47 lakhs.
At March-end, BSNL had 7.72 crore mobile phone subscribers.
