State-owned telecom firm MTNL has cleared all pending salaries till March and is now looking to resolve debt issues through asset monetisation, a top company official said on Monday.
A total of 78,569 employees of BSNL and 14,387 staffers of MTNL have opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) which closed on December 3, 2019.
MTNL has started offering free access to office servers to its enterprise customers' employees to support work from home during the lockdown.
Reliance Jio has opposed the suggestion of BSNL and MTNL to exempt telecom operators having less than 15 per cent market share from minimum rates for phone calls and data services.
State-owned BSNL and MTNL have told the sector regulator Trai that tariff fixation should be applicable only on telcos with more than 15 per cent subscriber base in a service area, while those with lower or negligible user base should be exempt from the purview of minimum floor price.
The three companies are jointly liable to pay dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore, but they have informed the Department of Telecom (DoT) of making only partial payment, as per their representatives.
There are a total of 153,000 employees in BSNL while 18,000 are there in MTNL. After opting for VRS, BSNL will be left with almost 50% of its employee force while MTNL with 25% of its working force.
The government is planning to hold next round of spectrum auction in April-May this year. The auction will also include radiowaves for 5G services. A draft cabinet note has been prepared in this regard by the DoT
State-owned telecom firms BSNL and MTNL will get fund infusion of around Rs 37,640 crore mainly for 4G spectrum and implementation of voluntary retirement scheme, according to Budget document 2020-21.
Dozens of internet outages have been reported in New Delhi as more than 14,000 of MTNL’s 18,000 employees opt for voluntary retirement. MTNL will practically be left with only 4,000 employees to manage Delhi and Mumbai circles
State-run telecom firm MTNL has started the process to monetize assets worth Rs 23,000 crore as it aims to turn profitable in the next fiscal year, a top official of the company said on Thursday.
Shares of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) on Thursday appreciated nearly 5 per cent, a day after it said it will seek shareholders' nod for monetisation of land and buildings as well as for raising up to Rs 6,500 crore through non-convertible debentures.
On the NSE, the stock soared 9.93 per cent to Rs 7.75 per unit. It zoomed 12.05 per cent to Rs 7.90 during the day. Bharti Airtel also saw its shares rising though marginally at 0.41 per cent to end at Rs 460.85 a unit on the BSE. Intra-day, its stock touched a high of Rs 464.75 apiece, up 1.26 per cent.
The voluntary retirement scheme of BSNL and MTNL on Tuesday closed with over 92,700 employees opting for it, according to senior officials of the public sector telecom companies. Around 78,300 employees of BSNL and 14,378 of MTNL have opted for the scheme.
The government on Thursday said it is not planning to reduce the retirement age of employees of state-owned telecom firms BSNL and MTNL to 50 years.
Over 94,000 employees of state-run BSNL and MTNL have applied for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) with eight more days to go for its closure, according to a government official. According to sources, BSNL's 80,000 and MTNL's 14,000 employees have applied for the VRS.
"About 13,988 employees of MTNL have applied for VRS as on today. Our employee strength is 18,200. Out of this, 16,372 are eligible for VRS, I am expecting another 500 to be in VRS, so up to 14,500 VRS applicants can go. Our target was 13,500", Kumar told IANS in New Delhi.
Over 92,000 employees of BSNL and MTNL have opted for the scheme so far, the source added.
The government on Wednesday said the merger of state-owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL is likely to be completed in 18-24 months.
MTNL had initially expected the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) opted to touch 13,500, but the numbers have already reached 13,532 employees, with nearly two weeks left to go before the closing date for exercising the option
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