Steps would be taken to restructure BSNL: Pilot

Union Minister of State for Communication Sachin Pilot today said that steps would be taken to restructure Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), the PSU which posted a loss of over Rs 1,800 crore in the last fiscal.

"BSNL had posted the loss for the first time and there are certain reasons behind it going into the red. Like postal department BSNL will also be restructured," Pilot said in a reply to a question.

Elaborating reasons, the minister said that while the competition has increased with the entry of private players, BSNL's landline business is declining.

"Besides, the PSU has implemented the sixth pay commission and has a number of other social obligations to fulfill, which no other private player will do," he said.

"BSNL is not (meant) for making profit, but ensuring good services to its customers is its priority," Pilot said.

The minister said that by 2012 all the post offices in the country will be digitally and electronically connected.

"Our effort is to simplify the services and Rs 1,800 crore has been allocated for this work," he said.

Pilot said that mobile number portability service, which was launched in Haryana yesterday, would be made available across the country by January 20 next year.

He said that the Centre is making efforts to ensure that an environment of investment is created across UP and should not be limited to Noida and Greater Noida alone.

"Three different projects have been launched so that all the services are available online. We request the UP government to adopt this system," he said.

The minister said that the department is in the process of imposing a ban on unwanted calls to mobile users.

"Unwanted calls are a big problem and 70 crore mobile users are being harassed by the marketing companies. We are waiting for Trai recommendations after which a ban will be imposed strictly on them," he said.

Earlier, Pilot inaugurated 10 post offices upgraded under project Arrow. "Under the project 129 post officers in the state are identified of which 116 have already been covered," he said.

The minister said that to meet the expectation of the people the postal department is launching new services like banking, insurance, instant money transfer and instant money orders.