State-run telecom firm BSNL is not only facing a crunch in adding additional customers, but is also yet to recover a huge Rs 4,174 crore outstanding arrears from existing users.
NEW DELHI: State-run telecom firm BSNL is not only facing a crunch in adding additional customers due to lack of capacity, but is also yet to recover a huge Rs 4,174 crore outstanding arrears from existing users.
Another public sector firm MTNL has not fared much better either and has to collect Rs 1,228.67 crore from customers as on June 30, according to official estimates.
This means, BSNL's arrears are slightly less than half of its net profit of Rs 8,940 crore during 2005-06 and 10 per cent of its revenue of Rs 40,177 crore in the same year. For MTNL, the outstanding dues are comparable to its first quarter revenue for this fiscal at Rs 1,280 crore and nearly ten times its net profit of Rs 110.90 crore.
BSNL is to recover about Rs 3,628.57 crore from landline users and Rs 545.71 from mobile users. The company has also been difficulty in adding new mobile subscribers due to lack of additional GSM capacity. However, BSNL officials said it has a strong collection mechanism and arrears were only 1.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent of total billed amount for landline and cellular services respectively.
MTNL, the operator in Mumbai and Delhi, has to recover Rs 1,228.67 crore till June this year. This comprises Rs 1,065.29 crore from fixed and Rs 163.38 crore from mobile users.
To recover these dues, BSNL plans to disconnect users who have not paid bills. Besides, heads of circles have been authorised to appoint private recovery agents on commission basis. The PSU has also asked the circles to file civil suits against defaulters where the outstanding amount is over Rs 25,000 despite reminders.
MTNL also employs private agents to recover dues and has been able to get about Rs five crore. It is also finalizing the convergent billing system to improve collections.
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