PM may meet BSNL top brass to check falling rev

Concerned over BSNL's falling revenues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet the top brass of the telecom PSU and Communication and IT Minister A Raja to look into causes and find ways to improve performance.

A senior BSNL official said the Department of Telecom has asked BSNL to be prepared for such a meeting with the Prime Minister.

The PSU has reported a lower net profit of Rs 575 crore with total revenues of about Rs 36,000 crore during 2008-09. Revenue and net profit in the previous financial year were Rs 38,000 crore and Rs 3,000 crore, respectively.

BSNL says the loss in net profit and revenue is due to huge wage costs and surrendering of fixed lines which has led to its basic services revenue fall by 21 per cent to Rs 11,500 crore.

The company has been struggling with the problem of landlines being surrendered for years now, with increasing popularity of mobiles, competition and its own service levels falling below customer expectations. In the past three years, 6.3 million landlines have been surrendered.

BSNL's failure to add capacity on its mobile network has also added to its woes as it has slipped to number four slot in the mobile subscriber base with private telcos like Bharti, Vodafone Eassar and Reliance Communication in the top numbers.