BSNL cuts phone bill arrears by over 1k cr in FY10

The government today said state-owned telecom firm BSNL has reduced its outstanding dues on account of landline and mobile telephone bill arrears from Rs 4,139.01 crore in March 2009 to Rs 3,106.61 crore as on March 31, 2010.

"Steps have been taken by BSNL to recover outstanding dues... In respect of landline and mobile telephones (which) have been reduced to Rs 2,478.43 crore and Rs 628.18 crore respectively, as on March 31, 2010," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In another reply, Pilot said CBI has conducted searches in the premises of Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Unitech Wireless, S Tel, Swan Telecom and other companies which were issued Letters of Intent (LoIs) for UAS Licences in 2008.

Responding to yet another query, Pilot said the Department of Financial Services has reported online banking frauds worth Rs 5.90 crore during 2009.

"The state police departments have set up separate cyber police stations/cells in many states/union territories which handle cyber crime cases including cyber attacks," he added.

The Minister also said the Department of Post has recorded a deficit of Rs 6,634.38 crore during 2009-10.