BSNL documenting properties worth Rs 45,000 cr

Lucknow, June 23 (UNI) Government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has taken up the task of verifying and documenting its properties worth over Rs 45,000 crore, throughout the country.

BSNL Chief MD A K Sinha said here today all the telecom circles had been directed to regularise their documents regarding properties of the company within six months.

''Now we are a corporate entity and for the purpose of audit, our market standing and overall strength in telecom industry, the process needs to be completed at the earliest,'' he said.

The process of finalisation of asset information shall be completed by the end of the current fiscal with 50 per cent being completed, Mr Sinha said.

BSNL denied that the company was going for an IPO during the current fiscal. However, it did not rule out the possibility in the near future. ''If we require to raise the money from market for our expansion, then we need to show something as guarantee to our creditors.'' He, however, added there were no immediate plans of disinvestment in BSNL, which remains the largest player in national telcom market.

Mr Sinha said the department of post and telegraph is a 150-year old organisation and after independence, there was rapid expansion of telecom network across nation.

''Besides, if the company wants to borrow fund from the market, then certainly the documents of assets would be required.'' Talking about the problems leading to non-documentation of the assets, Mr Sinha said most properties were in the name of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and even after seven years of BSNL, it had not been transferred.

He said despite continuing trend of drop in tariff and increasing pressure on margins, the company had maintained growth in its physical and financial performance. He said against 52 lakh new connections released in 2004-05, the number increased to 82 lakh in last fiscal 2005-06, registering a hefty growth of 52 per cent.

On the financial front, he said against the revenue of Rs 36,000 crore in 2004-05, in last fiscal revenue is estimated to be close to Rs 89,500 crore.

On rural telephony, Mr Sinha said the BSNL had taken up the digital satellite phone project costing Rs 150 crore. He said by the end of March 2007, digital satellite phone would be provided at each village with population of 5,000. The cost of each such telephone connection is Rs one lakh.

He said there were nearly 11 lakh still in the waiting list for land line phone connection in rural areas, which ''we hope to liquidate by the end of current fiscal and phone will be available on demand in rural areas like the urban areas.'' Earlier, Mr Sinha held a meeting of chief general managers of northern region attended by officials from Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and UP.

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