With virtual meetings being the new normal, the Parliamentarians at a meeting of Lok Sabha House Committee on Thursday complained about the slow internet facility provided by MTNL/BSNL and batted for replacing them with private players.
This is not the first time MPs have complained about the government-owned telecom providers. Last year October, at a meeting of Rajya Sabha House Committee, a similar demand was raised, after many members complained of call drops.
All parliamentarians are provided three telephone connections, one of which can be used for broadband. As per the Housing and Telephone Facilities (Members of Parliament) Rules, 1956, MPs get 50,000 free calls each month and broadband bill worth ₹1,500 are also paid for. Together, the annual concessions amount to ₹1.5 lakh per MP.
However, no reimbursement is provided for connections from private telecom companies. Currently, there are three private operators in the country — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio.
“All the political activity is now happening via video conferencing. We need a reliable and hi-speed Internet facility. The one provided by BSNL/MTNL is subpar,” one of the members who attended the meeting said.
The committee is headed by BJP MP and Gujarat State unit chief of the party C.R. Patil and has 12 members drawn from across parties. Six members attended the meeting on Thursday.
In a presentation during the meeting, the MTNL said it has increased the speed of broadband connection from 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps and data download limit from 200GB to 500 GB.
MTNL officials said as per figures of June 2020, only 43 MPs have utilised more than 500 GB; majority are still using less than 100 GB. They also said MPs can lodge complaints about service via text messages.
However, sources said members were not convinced with these assurances.
“Not only is the Internet slow, if any problem arises, the resolution is also not done with the alacrity of private players,” another member said.
Last October, the Union Cabinet had approved a package worth nearly ₹70,000 crore for the revival of the two struggling telecom PSUs — BSNL and MTNL. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had also given an in-principle nod for the merger of the two entities.
Under the package, 4G spectrum worth ₹20,000 crore is to be administratively allotted to the two firms and their debt is to be restructured by raising of bonds with sovereign guarantee worth ₹15,000 crore. Besides, a voluntary retirement scheme with an outlay of ₹30,000 crore was also approved. The government also plans to monetise assets of the two firms worth about ₹38,000 crore.
