Telecom Comm meet may raise BSNL issues today

The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), is set to meet today to deliberate on some key issues related to the sector.

State-owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is expected to top the agenda of the meeting.

Whether it is the appointment of a new chairman and managing director as the incumbent Kuldeep Goyal retires in a few weeks, restructuring of the telco or refund of the 3G (third generation) and wireless broadband spectrum money that it has shelled out, BSNL is expected to keep the Telecom Commission busy at the meeting.

The Telecom Commission is headed by the DoT secretary P J Thomas.        

Apart from BSNL, the recommendation issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on 2G (second generation) spectrum pricing may also be taken up at the high-level meeting.
While the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) wants an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to examine the Trai recommendations on 2G spectrum pricing and allocation, the Telecom Commission is expected to discuss the matter today.

The EGoM, that had earlier deliberated on the 3G spectrum vacation and allocation, will now take up the 2G issue.     

The commission meeting could also take up the issue of rollout obligations of telecom firms. Recently, it was learnt that the PMO expressed its  concern that some telcos including Etisalat, Loop, telenor, Spice, Videocon and STel were not fulfilling their rollout obligations, thereby hoarding spectrum.

A committee headed by Sam Pitroda, advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had earlier suggested ways of restructuring BSNL, which ran into losses recently. According to a DoT statement, the full Telecom Commission meeting on July 7 would consider the recommendations of the Pitroda Committee.

The appointment of BSNL CMD is yet another burning issue that the government would have to look at. Among others, the name of former Vodafone chief Arun Sarin too has been doing the rounds for the post of BSNL CMD. DoT claims that no interviews have been conducted for the post yet.
Refund of 3G and BWA (broadband wireless access) money to BSNL is also a significant issue on which the government has to decide.

Following the BSNL CMD’s letter to DoT seeking a refund, Communications Minister A Raja wrote to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking for a reimbursement to the state-owned telco.

Even as the Finance Ministry and perhaps the Cabinet would have to take a decision on whether to reimburse the 3G money to BSNL, the Telecom Commission is expected to discuss the matter.    

If Raja’s plea is accepted by the government, the Exchequer’s revenue collection from 3G and BWA spectrum auction would drop to Rs 87,500 crore, from 1,06,000 crore now.