Base price set for auctioning spectrum will not affect BSNL: Chairman and Managing Director R K Upadhyay
The "highest authority of telecom had announced the price after a lot of deliberations and views by TRAI",
BSNL Chairman and Managing Director
R K Upadhyay told reporters here last night.
He said pricing would not make significant dent on BSNL. "However, it could be disadvantageous while renewal process is undertaken," he said.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Friday agreed to price 5 MHz of airwaves in the 1,800 Mhz band at the lower end of the Rs 14,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore reserve price band suggested by a ministers' group.
Upadhyay said he is hopeful of releasing BSNL's financial results of 2011-12 by September, adding that auditing process is in progress.
He said the PSU telecom major is likely to at least break-even. He maintained that roughly 52-53 per cent of the total expenditure goes towards wages bill and other establishment charges.
The public sector telecom major is to tap its strong infrastructure to garner additional revenue and profits.
BSNL is appointing a consultant to advise them on monetisation of real estate holdings and other avenues with which additional revenues could be generated utilising in an optimum manner the massive infrastructure accrued in the last decades.
BSNL would also diversify its operations by establishing video conferencing centers and wi-fi spots across the country where the market potential is lucrative.
The company would also utilise the strong training centers established all over the telecom circles to impart training for the youth on skill development and other IT disciplines.
To a question on the outcome of the recently initiated upgradation of land line billing system, Upadhyay replied that it was none other than a major transformation in the telecom history of India. As much as 330 Telecom SSAs had to be integrated, networked for the billing process.
A detailed survey is deployed on the outcome of the exercise and certainly it would have benefited BSNL in terms of revenues and services uptake.
On the issue of 14.37 million lines augmentation tender, he said that purchase orders have been issued and suppliers will start supply requisite equipments from next month.
He said the exercise is likely to culminate in the next 7-8 months.
The financial implication was to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore and he was hopeful of revamping and upgrading the BSNL network across the country with special focus in rural areas.
