BSNL employees set to protest against slow-moving 4G, 5G rollout, BharatNet progress
NEW DELHI: Employees of the state-run telecom carrier
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(
BSNL
) have planned a nearly two-month protest against the delay in rollout of 4G and fifth-generation (
5G
) services, lackluster fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and enterprise business (EB) performance, and persistent challenges related to the execution of the Centre's ambitious
BharatNet
project.
The employees said these factors are contributing to a huge subscriber port-out from BSNL to rival telcos' networks, resulting in a significant revenue loss for the telecom PSU.
'Despite full support of the government, the project (4G/5G rollout) is being consistently marred with problems, mostly due to the inept management and the associated vendors. The delay in the smooth rollout of full-fledged 4G/5G services and consistent daily problems in the network are leading to huge churn of subscribers, which is further leading to a great dip in revenue,' the Bharatiya Door Sanchar Manch said in a letter to
Robert J Ravi
, CMD, BSNL.
ETTelecom has reviewed a copy of the letter dated May 1, 2025.
Bharatiya Door Sanchar Manch comprises BSNL unions and associations affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), including the All India Graduate Engineers & Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA), BTEU, BDPS, AIBSNLOBCEWA, STEWA, FNTOBEA, and BTU.
The BMS represents more than 3 crores workers nationwide.
'Even the basic issues in the FTTH segment are also not being looked upon, which is making BSNL lag behind its competitors in this era of fierce competition in FTTH/EB segments,' the employees said in the letter. 'All these things are leading to huge churn of customers and loss of revenue, which is making BSNL subject to losses despite best efforts by the employees.'
Citing the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the employees said that the advantageous position of BSNL following the July 2024 tariff hike has been diluted due to a significant churn in the telecom PSU's subscriber base, owing to network issues.
The sector regulator's industry data collated for February showed that BSNL lost 0.56 million subscribers to close the month with a subscriber base of 91.01 million. By contrast, its private sector rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel gained 1.76 million and 1.59 million subscribers, respectively, to end the month with 467.58 million and 388.55 million subscribers, mainly due to relatively superior 4G and 5G coverage pan-India.
Vi lost 20,720 subscribers in February, limiting its base to 205.90 million.
'The work related to crucial projects like BharatNet, CDR, Pan India MAAN (Multi Access Aggregation Network), IP MPLS MAAN, etc, is also not moving in a proper way due to indecisions on the part of management at various levels,' the Bharatiya Door Sanchar Manch said.
It said the result of BSNL employees' hard work has reflected in the results of FY24-25, and in the 'record-breaking' revenue collection in March 2025. 'It's worth mentioning that BSNL has delivered a net profitable quarter after almost 17 years in the Q3 results of FY 2024-25,' it added.
The employees have also sought redressal of their long-standing HR issues, including pay structure, promotional avenues, and perks & allowances.
'It is very clear that management deliberately wants to keep the executives & non-executives in a state of unrest and allow the organisation in a turbulent condition, perhaps to hide failures on other fronts,' it said.
The employees will commence their protests from May 16 with a signature campaign, culminating in a three-day dharna (sit-in protest) at all BSNL corporate offices between May 15 and May 17.
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