The two day Central Executive Committee meeting of BSNLEU is to be held on 22nd and 23rd October, 2018, at ALTTC, Ghaziabad. The UP(West) circle union, which is hosting the meeting, is  taking all out efforts to make the programme successful. The meeting will discuss important issues such as, developments related to 3rd  wage revision, non-implementation of the assurances given by the Hon'ble MoS(C), 2 day General Strike to be held on 8th and 9th January, 2019, agitational call of the AUAB, revival of BSNL,etc. As usual, only CEC members will be allowed to attend the CEC meeting. For details, CEC members are requested to contact Com.Upendar Singh Teotia, circle secretary, UP(West),  on 09868816250.

In yesterday's website updating, we have explained how the tariff war started by Reliance Jio has seriously affected BSNL's financial condition. Further, citing the views of industry experts, we have also stated that the ongoing tariff war will come to an end by around March, 2019. Thereafter, call and data tariffs will start rising, as a result of which revenue collections of telecom companies, including BSNL will also start improving. As a result of this, BSNL will start coming out of the present crisis. Our views are based on the assessment of telecom industry experts. In this connection, we reproduce hereunder, statements of some industry experts, published in the ET Telecom, dated 14-10-2018.

The turmoil in the telecom sector seems to be easing with prices remaining largely stable for the past three quarters and some industry executives and experts seeing tariffs edging up in the next two quarters. That could end more than two years of rock bottom prices for Indian telecom consumers.

“The days of freebies for mobile consumers may be finally coming to an end as the high cost of money is definitely hurting telcos and putting pressure, particularly on the incumbents, which should lead to some tariff hikes in the next two quarters,” Sanjiv Bhasin, executive vice-president, markets and corporate affairs, IIFL, told ET.

The lack of tariff cuts for several months suggests “Jio could remove discounts and promotions going forward, which will likely be adopted by incumbents,” said Nitin Soni, director, corporates, at global rating agency Fitch.

CHQ is saddened to inform that, Com.Vimla Prajapati, wife of Com.J.M.Prajapati, former circle secretary, BSNLEU, Gujarat, has passed away. Com.Vimla Prajapati was an employee of BSNL and retired a few years ago. While in service, she had been an active functionary of BSNLEU, in Ahmedabad Telecom District. CHQ pays it's respectful homage to Com.Vimla Prajapati. CHQ also conveys it's heartfelt condolences to Com.J.M.Prajapati, and all the members of his family.

BSNLEU wishes to convey this message to the employees, with regards to the financial condition of BSNL. It is true that BSNL is in the midst of a severe financial problem. The Company is managing to pay salary to it’s employees every month only with much difficulties. The Corporate Office is unable to allot funds for payment of medical bills and other bills. Payment of contract workers wages is being terribly delayed, due to non-allotment of funds by the Corporate Office.

At the same time, utilising the financial problems of the Company, some mischief makers are trying to create panic among the employees. Due to the various rumours being spread by the mischief makers, employees are terribly confused and are worried about their future. Hence, it is the duty of BSNLEU to give a clear picture about what is going on. We wish to make it clear that BSNL’s financial position was severely affected only due to the tariff war started by Reliance Jio from September, 2016.

Not only BSNL, but also Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have gone into loss. In fact, the entire telecom industry has become “stressed”. However, BSNL’s condition is much better then the condition of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. All the private companies are having huge debts. For example, Airtel’s debt is Rs. 95,000 crores. The total debt of the Vodafone-Idea is Rs.1,20,000 crores. Comparatively, it is a good news that BSNL’s debt is only a few thousand crores.

Moreover, even under severe competition from Reliance Jio, BSNL’s customers’ growth continues to be remarkable. In fact, in 2017, BSNL’s mobile customer growth was higher than the growth of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. In 2017, BSNL’s mobile customer growth was 11.50%, whereas Airtel’s customer growth was only 9.13%. Vodafone’s growth was only 3.83% and Idea’s growth was only 3.14%.

The only problem of BSNL is that, it’s revenue collection has gone down drastically. However, Telecom Industry Experts are of the opinion that the present tariff war will not continue for long, but may go only upto March, 2019. According to them, thereafter, the tariffs will start rising. It means, the revenue of the telecom companies, including that of BSNL will start increasing. As a result, BSNL’s present cash problem will slowly go away.

Further, because of the continuous struggles of the AUAB, BSNL is going to get 4G spectrum soon. Within 6 months of the allotment of 4G spectrum, BSNL will start providing 4G service in all the circles. The AUAB has already launched the movement called “BSNL At Your Door Steps”, requesting the employees to massively involve in sales and marketing activities. Further, the AUAB has demanded the BSNL Management to curtail wasteful expenditures. The AUAB has also demanded that austerity measures should be imposed for the top officers, for cutting down their luxurious / lavish expenditures. The AUAB will continue to fight to implement this.

Hence, BSNLEU wishes to inform all that the financial problems of BSNL is going to end soon. BSNL is having a very bright future. Let us not believe rumours and the stories being spreaded by mischief makers. Let us confidently march ahead for a better future. Undoubtedly, the future is ours.

Accepting the demand of BSNLEU, the Management has issued letter, granting relaxation to the minimum qualifying marks of the candidates who appeared in the JE LICE, held on 28-01-2018. Vide BSNL Corporate Office letter no.7-2/2017-Rectt. dated 31.08.2018, Management relaxed the minimum qualifying marks for General and OBC candidates from 30% to 20%. For SC candidates, the marks were relaxed from 20% to 15% . However, in the case of ST candidates, the Management did not grant any relaxation. As per the DoT letter no.22-5/91-NCG dated 30.11.92, the results of the ST candidates, who have secured at least 15% marks in each paper are to be reviewed. In effect, the Management has not given any relaxation to the ST candidates. This tantamounts to a discrimination. Hence, BSNLEU has written to the CMD BSNL, demanding to grant a lesser qualifying marks to the ST candidates who appeared in the JE LICE, held on 28-01-2018.

बीएसएनएल ईयू द्वारा बीएसएनएल की वित्तीय स्थिति के संबंध में  कर्मचारियों को यह संदेश दिया जा रहा है। यह सत्य है कि बीएसएनएल विकराल वित्तीय स्थिति के मध्य फंसा हुआ है। कंपनी को हर माह अपने कर्मचारियों के वेतन की व्यवस्था के लिए भी काफी जद्दोजहद करना पड़ रही है। कॉर्पोरेट ऑफिस के लिए मेडिकल व अन्य बिल्स के भुगतान के लिए फंड्स अलॉट करना भी संभव नही हो पा रहा है। कॉन्ट्रैक्ट वर्कर्स के वेजेस भुगतान में भी कॉर्पोरेट ऑफिस द्वारा फण्ड अलॉटमेन्ट के अभाव में भयंकर विलंब हो रहा है।

ऐसे समय में, कंपनी की वित्तीय समस्याओं को ले कर कुछ दुष्प्रचारक कर्मचारियों में भय निर्मित कर रहे हैं। इन दुष्प्रचारक तत्वों द्वारा फैलाई जा रही विभिन्न अफवाहों से कर्मचारी विभ्रम की स्थिति में है और अपने भविष्य को ले कर चिंतित भी। अतः बीएसएनएल ईयू यह अपनी जिम्मेदारी समझती है कि वह जो कुछ भी हो रहा है उसका यथार्थ चित्रण कर्मचारियों के समक्ष रखे।

हम यहां यह स्पष्ट रूप से बताना चाहेंगे कि बीएसएनएल की वित्तीय स्थिति पर रिलायंस जियो द्वारा सितंबर 2016 से शुरू किए गए मूल्य युद्ध ( Tarrif War) की वजह से बेहद भयावह असर हुआ है। न केवल बीएसएनएल, वरन एयरटेल, वोडाफोन और आईडिया भी अलाभप्रद स्थिति में पहुंच गए हैं। सच तो यह है कि सम्पूर्ण दूरसंचार उद्योग ही "तनाव" में है। बावजूद इसके, बीएसएनएल की स्थिति एयरटेल, वोडाफोन और आईडिया की स्थिति से कहीं ज्यादा बेहतर है। सभी निजी कंपनियों पर भयंकर कर्ज है। उदाहरण के लिए, एयरटेल पर रु 95,000 करोड़ का कर्ज है एवं वोडाफोन और आईडिया भी कुल रु 1,20,000 करोड़ के ऋण में है। तुलनात्मक रूप से, यह सुखद खबर है कि बीएसएनएल पर कुछ हजार करोड़ का ही कर्ज है।

इसके अलावा, रिलायंस जियो से कड़ी प्रतिस्पर्धा के बावजूद बीएसएनएल के ग्राहकों की संख्या में उल्लेखनीय वृद्धि हो रही है। वस्तुतः 2017 में बीएसएनएल के ग्राहकों की वृद्धि एयरटेल, वोडाफोन और आईडिया से अधिक थी। 2017 में बीएसएनएल की ग्राहक वृद्धि दर 11.50% थी, वहीं एयरटेल की वृद्धि दर थी मात्र 9.13%। वोडाफोन की ग्राहक वृद्धि दर केवल 3.83% रही तो आईडिया की 3.14%।

बीएसएनएल की समस्या सिर्फ यही है कि उसके राजस्व संग्रहण (Revenue Collection) में बेतहाशा गिरावट आ रही है। लेकिन दूरसंचार उद्योग के विशेषज्ञों का यह मानना है कि वर्तमान में जारी टैरिफ वार ज्यादा समय तक नही चलेगा, ज्यादा से ज्यादा मार्च 2019 तक यह जारी रहेगा। उनके अनुसार, इसके बाद टैरिफ में वृद्धि होना शुरू होगी। इसका मतलब बीएसएनएल सहित सभी टेलीकॉम कंपनीज के राजस्व में वृद्धि की शुरुआत होगी। परिणाम स्वरूप, बीएसएनएल की नगदी समस्या (Cash Problem) शनैः शनैः समाप्त होती जाएगी।

इसके साथ ही, AUAB द्वारा किए गए संघर्ष की बदौलत बीएसएनएल को शीघ्र ही 4G स्पेक्ट्रम भी मिलने जा रहा है। 4G स्पेक्ट्रम मिलने के 6 माह पश्चात बीएसएनएल सभी सर्कल्स में 4G सेवाएं प्रदान करने की स्थिति में होगा। इधर AUAB  सभी कर्मचारियों से सेल्स व मार्केटिंग में अपनी व्यापक रूप से सहभागिता का अनुरोध करते हुए  "बीएसएनएल-आपके द्वार" मूवमेंट की शुरुआत कर ही चुका है। इसके साथ ही AUAB ने मैनेजमेंट से अनावश्यक खर्चों में कटौती की भी मांग की है। AUAB ने उच्च प्रबंधन के आरामदेह और शाही खर्चों पर लगाम लगाने हेतु आवश्यक खर्च कटौती मापदंड का पालन करने की भी मांग की है। इन मापदंडों का अनुपालन सुनिश्चित करवाने के लिए AUAB की लड़ाई लगातार जारी रहेगी।

अतः बीएसएनएल ईयू सभी को सूचित करती है कि बीएसएनएल की वित्तीय समस्याएं शीघ्र ही समाप्त होंगी। बीएसएनएल का भविष्य बेहद सुनहरा है। हम दुष्प्रचारकों की अफवाहों और उनके द्वारा गढ़ी गई कहानियों पर विश्वास न करें।

आओ, हम विश्वासभरे कदमों के साथ एक बेहतर भविष्य की ओर अग्रसर होंवे। निःसंदेह भविष्य हमारा है।

As per the Union Constitution, delegates for the All India Conference, will be allocated only to the district unions, based on the CHQ quota received from them. After the introduction of ERP, circles are sending the CHQ quota in bulk, without break-up figures for the quota related to the individual district unions. Hence, CHQ has been requesting the circle unions to send the break-up figures, for quota remitted by each district union. However, it is unfortunate that still the following circles have not sent the break-up figures. Hence, CHQ is unable to announce the All India Conference delegates, entitled to the district unions of those circles. Hence, the following circle secretaries are requested to immediately send to the CHQ, the details related to district wise quota remittances for the years 2016 & 2017. Otherwise, the district unions of these circles will not get any delegate for the All India Conference. CHQ requests to treat this as most urgent.

1. Bihar
2. Haryana
3. J&K
4. Rajasthan
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Jharkhand
7. NTR
8. UP(East)
9. TF Jabalpur

MTNL, operating only in the two circles of Delhi and Mumbai. But, it is having a financial liability of Rs.18,000 crores. This has been reported by the ET Telecom. Government’s share holding in MTNL is 56%. Public Sector LIC is holding 19% shares and the remaining 25% shares are with the Public. The Company has now sought the approval of the government, for issuing preferential shares to the tune of Rs.6,292 crores for the purpose of launching it’s 4G service.