BSNL decides to rope in IIM-A & Deloitte to plan robust strategy for its merger with MTNL
New Delhi: As the merger of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) is getting delayed despite several attempts by the government, the former has decided to rope in Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and Deloitte to formulate a robust strategy for its merger with MTNL.
According to a senior official, who is familiar with the development, the premier management institute would also study the revival plan for the state-owned telecom service provider.
“The the agencies would be mandated to find out a workable strategy to make BSNL a profit-making company. Also, both the agencies would be tasked to study the legal concerns associated with the BSNL’s merger with MTNL,” the official said.
“The decision to engage IIM-A and the private firm has been taken after the government’s efforts didn’t work to find a doable solution for some of the technical and legal issues. Merger is a very critical issue and it should be done in a very professional manner by protecting the interests of their workforce,” another official said.
As the merger of both the firms is pending for a long, the attempt to engage professional strategists may help in resolving all the critical issue.
Notably, the government has pumped in huge money to revive the loss-making BSNL. The idea behind revival of the state-owned telco is to serve the needs of the country at the time of national calamities.
Given the importance of BSNL, the government has announced three relief packages for its revival from 2019. The first revival package of Rs 69,000 crore was approved for BSNL/MTNL in 2019.
In the second revival package, the government had approved Rs 1.64 lakh crore in 2022. The second revival package was meant for providing financial support for capital expenditure, viability gap funding for rural landlines, financial support to lessen the balance sheet’s stress, settlement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and the merger of BBNL with BSNL.
The third revival package was of Rs 89,047.82 crore, which was announced in June 2023. The fund was pumped in for the allocation of 4G/5G spectrum through equity infusion.
