The Circle Executive Committee Meeting cum Collegiums’ Election, which is scheduled on 18-19th October 2021 as per the notification issued on 13.09.2021, is going to be held through online mode. This has been decided in view of the opinion expressed to hold the meeting through online mode by most of the governing body members. The special casual leave letter has also been issued by the SR Cell for the meeting.
Hon’ble MOC Sh Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday made the first call over the Indian 4G network of BSNL and took to Twitter expressing happiness that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is taking shape.
Hon’ble Communications Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday made the first call over the Indian 4G network of BSNL and took to Twitter expressing happiness that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is taking shape.
BSNL 4G is live in many areas in India and the company is now offering free 4G SIM to its customers till December 31. This is India’s first indigenous 4G network, though its rollout was not smooth. Reports said Tata Consultancy Services may emerge as a partner aiding the later phases of the rollout.
BSNL has been working on the 4G network with the help of Indian technology for quite some time. In January this year, BSNL floated the Expression of Interest for proof of concept from Indian Companies interested in participating in BSNL’s upcoming 4G tender. In July, the letter of intent was issued to five eligible bidders, according to department information.
Today Hon’ble Secretary (Telecom) Sh. K. Rajaraman, CMD BSNL Sh. P K Purwar and Director(CM) Sh. S K Mishra visited chandigarh to see the progress of 4G POC. Team AIGETOA comprising Sh. Ajit Singh JS North, Sh. Yogesh Chhabra CS, Sh. Vikas Gupta CP and Sh. Vishal Chanana OS welcomed all on behalf of AIGETOA Punjab. Inspite of their busy schedule CMD BSNL allow us for one to one meeting for a short duration. We raise our concern about future of BSNL as we are the majority stake holders having long service. CMD clearly stated that I can only say that we are on right path as of now. No need to worry. Let’s work hard together for our beloved company. He also informed that we are closely monitoring the progress of 4G POC as it is the only way for BSNL to launch 4G services soon. Secondly, FTTH services are very much important for growth of BSNL as well as for revenue point of view. We are working on improvement in stability of FTTH services.
We assured our full support for any kind of work which will improve financial condition of BSNL and also for the welfare of employees. We also conveyed that all BR’s are not having pensionary supports. Hundred of employees lost their lives during this pandemic. 30% SAB should be immediately given and regularise too. CMD assured to look into the matter.
We also demand one promotion to all eligible before restructuring. It was told to us that matter is under discussion.
We extended our thanks to CGM Punjab Sh. Sandeep Diwan for arranging a meeting in a very tight schedule. We also thanked Sh. Ajay Karara PGM (CMTS), Sh. M C Singh GMTD Chandigarh, Sh. Deepak Garg PGM Nodal Center.
CO BSNL issued instructions to all Circles regarding grant of permission for applying to other Organisation on Direct Recruitment basis and issuance of NOC.
A meeting of the leaders of All Unions and Associations has been called by the BSNL Management on 6th October at 16:00 Hours. The meeting will be held with BSNL Board of Directors and CMD BSNL to discuss the issue raised in the circular dated 27.09.2021.
In view of the scheduled meeting of All Unions and Associations on the invitation of BSNL management, the proposed Twitter Campaign on 6thOctober 2021 has been postponed, as decided by the forum.
The last date for sending the nominations for Central Collegium is 7th Oct 2021, all Circles are requested to send as per schedule.
Important Schedules are as follows :
- Circle will send their nominations strictly in the enclosed format for Central Collegiums after following due process as defined in AIGETOA Constitution to the returning officer on mail ID: ro.aigetoa@gmail.com by 7th October 2021. (CSs are requested to share copy of CEC Minutes in which Circle Collegiums’ members are elected as per their defined strength, without valid signed minutes copy collegiums list will not be considered).
- Verification of the nomination received will be done by the returning officer in consultation with the concerned Circle Secretary from 8th October to 12th October 2021.
- Provisional list of the nomination received will be displayed on CHQ website on 13th October 2021.
As per ideal business model for telecom, four viable operators are required to avoid monopoly and to have fair competition. One of them should be preferably a PSU. BSNL has been in the telecom arena under various avatars for more than 165 years. It established good practices and conventions in the telecom service worth emulating by the lateral entrants in the sector. It entered into mobile services, with a big bang with free incoming offer, declaring India as ‘free incoming’ nation. The other private TSPs were forced to give free incoming facility, because of BSNL, benefiting the customers and it clearly demonstrates the impact of competition and need for a PSU. It was the first operator to remove roaming charges for incoming calls (from June 15, 2015) making ‘ One nation one number’ dream to become true.
Transparency in billing and metering has been the hallmark of BSNL, which has been appreciated by the sector regulator, TRAI. BSNL was adjudged as the most trusted brand in the telecom sector along with LIC in the insurance sector. BSNL’s tariffs are very competitive. At the same time it does not resort to predatory pricing. It follows ethical and fair business practices. Because of BSNL presence in the mobile segment, there was a transition from ‘missed call’ regime to ‘free call’ regime.
BSNL along with MTNL has pan India presence. Once these two entities get merged, pan India leased circuits can be provided with greater ease, throwing stiff competition. Serving back-ward, hilly and remote (BAHAR), tribal and rural areas has been the USP of BSNL as it has a service motto rather than profit motto. BSNL has a wide spread OF (Optical Fiber) network penetrating into even rural areas.
During natural disasters, it is always the BSNL which will be at forefront. When there was a severe earthquake at Bhuj, Gujarat it was only the BSNL buildings that could withstand the impact of the tremors and survive which shows the quality of its buildings and uncompromising standards. During the Hudhud cyclone at Visakhapatnam, it was only the BSNL network that was live. Without bothering about expenditure, BSNL ensured that DG sets were running on 24×7 basis giving continuous service unlike the private TSPs (Telecom Service Providers). It allowed customers of other TSPs to use its network with ICR (Intra circle Roaming) arrangement. BSNL’s exemplary services were applauded by the State government and customers. Similarly during Chennai floods and Orissa cyclone it rose to the occasion and came to customers’ rescue. It offered free calls during natural disasters. MOC mentioned on many occasions about BSNL’s noteworthy services during natural calamities.
In the national security angle, BSNL presence is very much required in the Telecom segment. People will never forget how one particular TSP manipulated CLI of incoming international calls and presented them as local ones, just to save IUC (interconnect Usage Charges), jeopardising national security. Armed forces rely on BSNL/ MTNL for their telecom needs. Like umbilical cord, the landline network connects customers to the mother BSNL. BSNL (Best Spoken National Language) landline network is an ideal one for long duration conversation. Landline connection serves as address proof. Though BSNL marched ahead of other TSPs in introducing 3G services and being ‘generations’ ahead of other operators, it is lagging behind others in 4G services. Delay was there in allotting spectrum to BSNL. BSNL’s 4G tenders had to be cancelled as they were not conforming to Athmanir Bharatha. Till 4G services are started by BSNL, it is handicapped as there is no level playing field. Wherever 4G services are introduced by BSNL (using 3G spectrum), data download speeds are quite attractive as evident in the speed tests. After successfully launching a core testing network, the consortium of TCS, CDOT and Tejas is the front runner for rolling out 4G in BSNL. It will be the country’s first indigenous 4G network.TCS has partnered with CDOT for core equipment and Tejas for radio equipment. TCS will provide billing and other software. The consortium has plans to further upgrade the network to 5G by 2023. Let us hope that the deviations (highest in radio network) proposed in specifications, which include critical issues, will be adequately addressed by the consortium so that the quality of 4G service of BSNL will be on par with that of private TSPs. BSNL has successfully laid submarine cable between Chennai and Portblair/ other islands in Andaman & Nicobar which has ushered in the digital revolution in these islands. This cable was commissioned by PM on August 10, 2020. This project was completed ahead of schedule by BSNL. It is going to lay a similar cable between Kochi and Lakshadweep islands. BSNL has installed wifi hotspots at major tourist centres, bus stations and rural telephone exchanges. It will be leveraging its fiber and broadband infrastructure to PDOAs (Public Data office aggregators) registered with DOT under PM- WANI (Wifi Access Network interface) programme. It will also register as PDOA and migrate its existing wifi access points to PM-WANI for better utilization. BSNL has vast experience and infrastructure for offering satellite services in remote and inaccessible places where other media is not feasible. It should take initiative in the provision of satellite broadband service in such places. BSNL has launched satellite based IOT service in partnership with Skylo. BSNL is doing well in FTTH and enterprise business. Compared to FY 20 in FY21 revenue in these segments is more. FTTH revenue increased from Rs 517 crores to Rs 937 crores. It is providing a good number of FTTH connections. Wherever fibres can’t be laid, it is providing Bharat Air Fibre service (unique to BSNL) which is a wireless connectivity using unlicensed spectrum. In this service Line of Sight radio waves are used to serve villages up to 5Km from exchange. Internet speed is upto 10 Mbps. BSNL should offer Inflight wifi services (using BTS and Satellites) ahead of other TSPs for which it has already got licence. Lot of business opportunities are available in this segment which should be fully exploited by BSNL. The wherewithal of BSNL should be utilised by the government for the implementation of national projects like Bharat Broadband Network, LWE (Left Wing Extremism) II, providing OF connectivity to all the villages. BSNL should leverage Artificial intelligence, big data, Machine learning and Block chain technologies to monitor/ improve its services. Recently it has integrated BSNL Automated Virtual Assistant (BAVA) in its website to answer customer’s queries related to services and to assist them. It is partly rule based and partly AI based. For strategic reasons, to avoid monopolistic tendency, to control the tariff and to provide good telecom services in rural areas BSNL should become strong and should be provided with a level playing field. Because of BSNL’s presence, tariffs are under check. When customers can’t differentiate between operators based on tariff, they go by quality of service leading to its improvement by all the operators benefiting the customers. BSNL should become a great national asset.
(L Anantharam Ex-Advisor, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India)
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the world’s two richest businessmen, are set to take on Airtel’s Sunil Mittal and Reliance Jio’s Mukesh Ambani in the high-speed broadband and internet space as they have approached the Indian government with separate plans to offer satellite-based internet connectivity.
Sources said that Musk’s satellite internet venture, Starlink, and Amazon have held separate consultations with the telecom ministry – as well as the Department of Space – for starting satellite-based internet services in India, “though they are yet to apply for a license through the formal route”.
The plan of the companies is to offer large swathes of bandwidth – with speeds as high as 1 GBPS and even more – through low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites that would be deployed at a distance of around 1,000 km from Earth.
With extreme grief, we bring to you the sad news of the demise of our colleague Shri Bodh Ram Kunthe SDE Raipur, Chhattisgarh due to a road accident.
AIGETOA prays to the almighty to provide his family with sufficient strength and courage to tide over the crisis and for bearing this irreparable loss. We also pray so that the eternal soul rests in peace.
Serious flaws in the performance of Cluster based outsourcing system and massive surrender of Landline/Broadband Connections has been appraised to the management on multiple occasions and suggestions made in line with the discussion and deliberation held in our last CEC held on 2-3 August, 2021. A comprehensive submission is given by AIGETOA to the Committee formed for the purpose to look after the issues of the Cluster Performance. This has been given after making extensive consultations with our field level officers across the various Circles. We do hope that the management will take it in right spirit and incorporate the changes demanded by the association for the larger benefits of the BSNL.