IPO in BSNL rethink

The Centre has been mulling an IPO for BSNL , India’s fifth largest telecom company. However it is felt that there might be a rethink of it now after the FPO of NTPC Ltd

received a tepid response from investors.

The Government is looking at option of private placement of shares of state run telco BSNL as hopes for an initial public offer fade, but no final decision has been taken, the Minister of state for communications and IT, Mr. Sachin Pilot said on Wednesday. There is no final decision yet ( on a private placement of shares). It is under consideration but the final decision will come from the Cabinet, Mr. Pilot said in Mumbai.

Sterilization operations in BSNL empannelled hospitals.

Vide Letter no. BSNL/Admn/1/14-2/09 dt 09 02 2010,

Office memorandum

As per Government of India instructions (FR SR) employees are eligible for special increment for undergoing sterilization operations subject to the conditions stipulated in those provisions and recommendations of the Central Pay Commissions from time to time. As per the above instructions sterilization operation should be conducted in Government Hospitals/CGHS or any other institutions approved/recognized by the Central/State Governments for the purpose and the certificate issued by such institutions will be acceptable. BSNL employees in addition to these hospitals can undergo sterilization operation in any BSNL empanelled hospital and a certificate from the Medical officer in charge of that hospital may be accepted for the grant of special increment after observing the prevalent prescribed rules.

Chennai Civil - Tamil Nadu - NUBSNLW(FNTO) Civil Branch- Tamil nadu is going to conduct their conference on 20 02 2010, Saturday at Shri Buvaneswari Kalyana Mandapam,6 Dr. Singaravelu street,Pondy Bazaar,T.nagar,Chennai 600 017.

Reception committee consits of Com. K.Ravichandran-President,M.Parthasarathy-Secretary and P.Rajarajan.

The conference will be presided by N.Shanmugam.

A seminar is being organised the role of Civil wing in Mobile services. Presided by Com V.Venkatasubramanian and Com N.Neethinathan welcomes the participants.

The conference is addressed by Shri P.K. Gupta PCE (C),Tamil nadu, Shri S.Pattabhiraman CE(C),Chennai Telephones, other important dignataries. From the FNTO, All India General
secretary Com. K.Vallinayagam, Com D. Chandrasekaran, All India Jt.Secretary Com . S.Lingamurthy ,AGS Com P. Andiappan, M.Abdul Wahab Circle President,A.Krishnamurthy Sr.Leader, K.R.Palanisamy W.President,R.V.Jayaraman Treasurer,ComV Mohan Kumar DS
Circle Office.

JAO Part II LIDC exam for 40% in Andhara Pradesh will take place on
5,6,7th March 2010 in a decentralized manner.

Comparision with other operators?

Referring to TRAI’s figures for December 2009, BSNL claims that it still is positioned in the number 4 rank with the operator adding on an average 2 million subscribers every month.

The PSU also tried to suggest that comparing its performance with private competitors was not fair as the operator is not operational in high potential markets of Delhi and Mumbai.

According to the TRAI report, BSNL’s subscriber base at the end of December 31, 2009 was 62.861 million.

Corporate rivalry?

The Communications Ministry has approached the PMO over the ongoing controversy regarding BSNL’s mega GSM contract, say reports.

According to the Ministry, corporate rivalry was affecting BSNL’s decision-making process.

TRAI 4G

The Government is planning for auction of 3G services in India. Exact date of auction is yet to be finalised. But TRAI is going ahead for next generation services 4G. They have started the process and planned to come out with a consultation paper .

IPO in BSNL

» INVESTING IN INDIA

Unbelievable hypocrisy
8 FEBRUARY 2010

Last week saw several examples of unbelievable hypocrisy. The Kirit Parekh expert committee, one of many that made similar recommendations on petro product pricing, suggested a hike in prices of petrol (by Rs 4.72/litre), of diesel (by Rs 2.33/l), of kerosene (by Rs 6/l) and of LPG (by Rs 100 per cylinder). The fact that petrol and diesel continue to be subsidised, at the cost of oil marketing companies which are being slowly bankrupted, is amazing; there cannot be a justification for it. The Government says it is worried about the inflationary impact of a hike - well, hello!! - if inflation is kept artificially low through subsidy then it is high time somebody informed the king he wasn't wearing any clothes! The fact that such recommendations have been made by several committees before Kirit Parekh is another example of hypocrisy; their recommendations were ignored by Governments which didn't have the b***s to implement them. Let's see if Manmohan's does.

---------------------------- FREE Webinar ----------------------------
The Equitymaster WebSummit - 2010: Where are the stock markets headed?

A double dip depression in the US. A bubble economy in China. Yet, India is said to be one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Don't you want to learn more about investing opportunities in India? Know what 2010 holds in store for you as an investor? What are solid investment opportunities? How much should you invest in gold? In real estate?

Listen to Ajit Dayal, President & Director Quantum Asset Management Company, clear your doubts, answer your questions. The webinar airs today at 5.30 pm IST.

It's FREE for all Equitymaster subscribers. Click here to register.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Or look at the utter hypocrisy of the Finance Ministry upbraiding SBI for underprovisioning for agricultural loans gone bad, when it was the decision of the Finance Minister to, perhaps justifiably given the pecuniary conditions of farmers, waive them off. And the irony is that it was SBI to whom the Finance Ministry then turned when the Rs 8300 crores follow on offer of NTPC did not find enough interest.

Look at the hypocrisy at BSNL, the world's seventh largest telecom company, wholly owned by Government. BSNL ran as a Government department for 140 years before it was corporatized, without adequate preparation, by a notification in Sep 2000. There were some 350,000 people who had to be convinced to migrate from the assurance of a Government job as a department, to a corporate one. BSNL had some excellent engineering talent, but it was mired in bureaucratic ineptitude which shackled excellence. It took a Rajiv Gandhi to usher in a Sam Pitroda, who left a flourishing business in the US to bring up BSNL, for the princely salary of Rs 1 (which went unpaid). Years later, the Government turns to Sam Pitroda to look into the declining financial health of BSNL and to sort out issues relating to a 93 million line tender of $ 10b.

The tender of 93 m. lines was floated a few years ago and was stalled because of an appeal by the losers, of foul play. The appeal was maintainable only because it is wholly owned by Government and thus subject to a writ of mandamus. Meanwhile private sector companies, not bound by such legal niceties, grew. To now accuse BSNL of mismanagement when it was not allowed to grow, or to go in for an IPO which would have given it financial freedom to do so, smacks of undiluted hypocrisy.

Similarly, executives at the oil marketing companies are being threatened with losing performance pay if they don't perform, even whilst their ability to perform is being undermined by the OMCs having to bear a subsidy burden which belongs to the exchequer.

George Orwell would have been proud of such doublespeak.

Chennai conference and queries column.

Chennai Metro Circle Conference

Chennai Telecom District Circle Conference was held on 6, 7 February 2010, under the Presidentship of C. K. Murthy. Circle Working President, P. Andiappan AGS inaugurated the conference on 6th after welcome address by S. Lingamurthy Circle Secretary. There was a healthy debate on 2nd wage revision between Gunasekaran AGS, BSNLEU and D. Chandrasekaran AGS FNTO and the debate proved that the wage revision is not to the satisfaction of BSNL Workers in general. Shri A. Subramaniam CGM, Leaders of Sister Unions and Shri Veeraraghavan Chairman Telecom Employees Cooperative Credit Society greeted the conference in the morning session.

Evening open session was presided over by Shri E. Karunanidhi Local Municipal Chairman. Shri K. Vallinayagam General Secretary delivered special address covering all staff issues and service matters. Shri Ravi Leader Of Opposition in Chennai Corporation greeted the conference. On 7th subject committee was presided over by Shri S. Mani Circle President and after adoption of annual report accounts etc local issues were discussed and resolutions adopted. In the concluding session S/Shri S. Lingamurthy, Radha Krishnan and Gangadharan were elected Circle secretary, President and Treasurer. Memento was presented to all guests and delegates. Shri Trisangu delivered vote of thanks.

Queries column

Q. Some Executive Associations have addressed Hon’ble PM to induct ‘outside talents’ in to BSNL board and Business line magazine has also endorsed the same view in its editorial?

A. There is a saying that, Beware of your demand, you may get it. Sometimes when we ask for shoes they will revete us with ‘horse shoe’. Recently PMO reviewed the position of financial as well market share out BSNL and suggested 10% IPO instead of incentives or subsidies as was expected. FNTO view is plenty of talents available in BSNL itself. Only necessary will and a sense of belonging are required for its leadership and workers. Some expertise in marketing would be enough.

K. Vallinayagam
General Secretary
.

3G & mobile

In the first phase of 3G services, BSNL has rolled out 3G services in 318 cities
with 8.56 lakhs subscribers in less than one year.

It has plans to establish 3 G in 400 cities by March and 760 cities by September 2010.

Mobile customer base is 59.5 million . During last two months, its average monthly addition has been 2 million subscribers .

According to TRAI, BSNL holds 4th position in wireless segment.

Circle Secretary

Shri Lingamurthy has been elected as Chennai Telephones Circle Secretary. Our best wishes to him and to all new office bearers . The Chennai Telephones Circle Conference took place at
Chennai on 6,7th Feb, 2010.

Chennai Telephones

National union of BSNL Workers (FNTO),Chennai Telephones is conducting third Circle
Conference at Shri Balaji Mahal, Chrompet,Chennai 600 044 on 06 02 2010 & 07 02 2010.

BSNL Tender

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked DoT to discuss with Sam Pitroda committee regarding BSNL tender.

Incentive scheme for BSNL Staff

Vide letter no. 2-1/2008/BSNL/TR dt 01 02 2010 , it has been informed by BSNL to relaunch of incentive scheme for BSNL Staff for recovery of outstanding telecom revenue dues, more than 3 years old as on 30 09 2009 i.e. outstanding telecom revenue dues prior to 01 10 2006 in respect of permanently closed connections for Basic & WLL services/CMTS not covered under Project Kuber.

wage revision

Management committee has approved the wage revision recommendations. Regarding implementation of the wage revision, CMD,BSNL has informed that this will be placed before the BSNL Board meeting after 20 02 10.

BSNLEU wants to implement promotion policy without Rs. 9200/- pay.

ida orders

BSNL issues IDA orders for 9.4% for non executives on 03 02 10.

முயன்றால் முடியும் நம்மாலும்

Bihar BSNL is setting an example by competing with other service providers in giving mobile connections for the month Dec 2009