Cabinet okays Rs 1.64 lakh crore package to revive BSNL

<p>
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ambitious Rs 1.64 lakh crore package for the revival of government-owned BSNL, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.</p>
<p>
The cabinet has also approved the merger of BSNL and Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, the minister told journalists.</p>
<p>
The revival package has three main objectives which are: to improve services, de-stress the company’s balance sheet and expand its fibre network. </p>
<p>
The government will make an administrative allocation of spectrum to BSNL to help it expand 4G services, he explained. The allocation of spectrum in 900/1800 MHz band at the cost of Rs 44,993 crore would be through equity infusion.</p>
<p>
To de-stress the balance sheet, Rs 33,404 crore statutory dues will be converted into equity.  Besides, the government will provide sovereign guarantee for raising money to repay current loans, he said.</p>
<p>
The Cabinet also approved the merger of BSNL and Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), the state-owned broadband infrastructure provider. The minister said the combined network of BSNL and BBNL is expected to be 14 lakh km approximately.  This will boost high-speed optical fibre services across India including remote areas.</p>
<p>
He said to meet the projected capital expenditure for the next four years, the government will fund capex of Rs 22,471 crore for developing 4G technology stack.</p>
<p>
Also, the government will provide Rs 13,789 crore to BSNL as viability-gap funding for commercially unviable rural wireline operations done during 2014-15 to 2019-20.</p>