Telecom News – The government is considering providing a second, but smaller revival package to BSNL and preliminary talks have already begun in this regard. According to sources, the ailing state-owned firm, which was given a Rs 70,000-crore revival package in October 2019, is now seeking support for 4G rollout and settlement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues owed by it, to clean up its balance sheet. The firm owes around Rs 5,000 crore as AGR dues.
Official sources said that a few preliminary meetings between the department of telecommunications (DoT) and BSNL officials have already taken place to chart out a revival strategy, which would address the issues raised by the company. Further, the government is looking at increasing the scope of BSNL by allocating the BharatNet project to it after winding up BBNL (Bharat Broadband Network). “In such a scenario, some kind of financial support needs to be given to BSNL. We are working on finalising the modalities around it,” an official told FE.