Government has set a total expenditure target of Rs. 6,463.65 crore for
telecom public sector units, including BSNL, MTNL, ITI, C-DoT and TCIL,
this fiscal.
"The provisioned amount will be part of fresh capital
expenditure that we will have to make in increasing our asset which
includes network expansion and upgradation," a top official of a
state-run telecom operator told PTI.
The government has earmarked
Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) for BSNL at Rs. 5,132.19
crore, MTNL Rs. 808.46 crore, telecom product manufacturing unit ITI at
Rs. 461 crore, research unit Centre for Development of Telematics
(C-DoT) at Rs. 60 crore, Rs. 1 crore each for HPIL and
Telecommunications Consultant India Limited (TCIL), according to an
official document.
Separately, BSNL will get Rs. 100 crore as
refund of upfront charges paid for spectrum to BSNL on surrender of
Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum from government.
In
addition to this, government has earmarked Rs. 2,760 crore for laying
out optical fibre based network for Defence Services. The project is
being managed by BSNL. The target date for completion of network for
defence is June 2015 but it is likely to get delayed.
BSNL last
month issued advance purchase order of around Rs. 8,678 crore for 10
year contract to five companies for supplying and deploying optical
fibres for the communication network of defence forces.
Government has allocated Rs. 461 crore to loss making Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited for revival.
The
government has transferred Rs. 3,537 crore to Universal Service
Obligation Fund (USOF) which is used for increasing telecom service
penetration in rural.
The National Optical Fibre Network, under
which all 2.5 lakh village panchayats are to be connected with high
speed broadband services, is being funded through USOF. The government
has set target to connect 50,000 gram panchayats by broadband this
fiscal and all 2.5 lakh by end of March 2017.
Allocation of Rs. 1
crore made to Hemisphere Properties India limited (HPIL) indicates
progress in resolving surplus land issue of VSNL, now Tata
Communications. In 2005, the Cabinet had approved special purpose
vehicle, HPIL, to execute the transaction related to the surplus VSNL
land.
Tata Communications had acquired the PSU in 2002, but the
deal did not include 773.13 acres of land assets owned by VSNL, which
have been lying unused following the acquisition.
Government has
to provide Rs. 2 crore loan to HPIL for hiring a consultant that has to
work on procedures for hiving off the land.
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