BSNL transfers over 800 execs, to fill revenue generating roles on priority

Time of India

05-05-2025

NEW DELHI: State-controlled
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(
BSNL
) has transferred nearly 4% or 839 of its overall executives citing promotions and long stay at present locations and sought to 'fill revenue generating posts' on priority basis.
In an order issued on May 2, 2025, reviewed by ETTelecom, the executives across telecom, finance and civil functions were shifted to multiple circles, which, according to employee groups, may cost the financially struggling telco about ₹12.5-crore.
BSNL employs nearly 20,000 executives and 30,000 non-executives.
'The officers belonging to various cadres of telecom, finance, civil, electrical, architecture and telecom factory stream are hereby transferred and posted to the circle indicated against their names due to reasons such as promotion, own request, long stay with immediate effect and until further orders,' BSNL said.
The state-run telecom carrier also directed chief general managers that 'revenue-generating posts' in the enterprise business, consumer mobility and consumer fixed access (CFA) verticals should be filled on priority.
Employee groups who are in discussions with BSNL management say that not only would such action cost about ₹12.5-crore burden in transfer allowance for relocations, but such a 'large arbitrary transfers would also lead to instability in key roles, including affecting productivity, project continuity, and customer service.'
'The executives promoted mostly are trained professionals occupying the core operation and maintenance jobs at BSNL and are largely responsible for the smooth working of the organisation. None of these postings are need-based, and are done on a pick and choose basis,' a senior executive said on condition of anonymity.
The move comes close on the heels of employee unions affiliated with Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) planning a two-month protest following delays in the commercial rollout of fourth generation or 4G and fifth generation (5G) services, challenges in BharatNet III program execution, and dwindling enterprise business.
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh represents more than 3 crore workers nationwide.
The executives said these factors are contributing to a huge subscriber port-out from BSNL to rival telcos, resulting in a significant revenue loss for the public sector telco.
BSNL has 91 million wireless users, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data for February 2025.
In June last year, BSNL transferred more than 475 employees, including 265 from the sub-divisional engineer (SDE) rank and 265 employees of the divisional engineer (DE) rank. However, only 20% of the employees were relieved so far.
BSNL expects the revenue to increase by 20% by Q4FY25 owing to reduced finance cost and overall expenditure.