After the merger with BBNL, BSNL will get 5.67 lakh km of optical fibre that is laid across 1.85 lakh village panchayats in the country using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
March 30, 2022
According to a senior government official, the project of the government to merge Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is about to get completed. The merger is expected to be completed this month, as published in news reports.
Speaking at an event hosted by the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA), Mr. P.K. Purwar, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL, informed that with this merger, the government is presenting the telecom firm with an opportunity for a turnaround.
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“The government has taken a policy decision that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level is going to come to BSNL,” Purwar said at the All India Conference of AIGETOA.
At present, BSNL has a pre-established cable network of over 6.8 lakh km of optical fibre cable (OFC). Following the merger, BSNL will get 5.67 lakh km of optical fibre that is laid across 1.85 lakh village panchayats in the country using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
BharatNet, also known as BBNL, is a government-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), set up by the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, for the National Optical Fibre Network to provide broadband connectivity all across the country and bridge the divide between urban and rural areas. BBNL was formed in February 2012, to lay out optical fibre network across 2.5 lakh village panchayats.
While speaking at the conference, BSNL CMD urged to put the best foot forward for the growth of BSNL, as the political leadership has given a free hand for the turnaround. He also said that there is not going to be any CAPEX crunch at least for the next two years.
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Purwar said, “in the budget, provision of around INR 45,000 crore has been made for BSNL. It was earlier INR 24,000 crore. Earlier provision was only for spectrum. Now, it is a spectrum, CAPEX, and others.”
He further added that in the next phase of growth of the telecom sector, the focus will be on the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service and in the coming days, 1 lakh mobile base stations will serve as a point of presence for the distribution of fibre-based broadband connectivity.
