This is how Government killed BSNL;
- First, it allowed it to bid for 4G Spectrum, then for no reason, it asked BSNL to take back the money and did not allot it any 4G Spectrum.
- Then it allotted it 4G Spectrum.
- Then it told BSNL that for ‘security’ reasons, it has to buy 4G equipment only from an Indian vendor.
- Government knew very well that there was no 4G equipment vendor who could provide equipment to BSNL.
- The contract was awarded to TCS.
- TCS failed to meet several deadlines to develop and deliver the equipment.
- BSNL continued to work with 3G technology and kept losing customers to Jio, Airtel and Vodafone.
- Then the competition, Jio and Airtel moved on to 5G technology.
- BSNL lost more customers with each passing month.
Now, TCS has finally delivered on 4G equipment and BSNL has started rolling out 4G in parts of India. The damage has been permanently done. First was the poor perception of a Government owned company and second was the delays in technology.
News today is Airtel and Jio have placed multi billion dollar orders on Erricson, Nokia and Samsung to purchase 5G eqipment
BSNL, the company owned by the citizens, I and you, is not yet ready with 4G.
It will take another few years before BSNL moves to 5G.
By that time, it will be almost without any customers.
By the way, Government now holds 23% equity in Vodafone, the company that has more then 3,00,000 Crore as debt and is tottering on the verge of failure.
But Government will not allow BSNL to use the Vodafone network although it is the single largest share holder in Vodafone and with more dues likely to get converted into equity may become the main share holder in Vodafone.
This is how Narendra Modi’s government has killed BSNL for the benefit of Jio and Airtel.
Soon, Gautam Adani may make a bid for BSNL and it might get sold for a song and people will be told that it is good for them as the company was ‘loss-making’.
What they will not tell you is that Narendra Modi’s government killed it.
This report is from May 2023 and we are sitting in October 2024 now
