PK Purwar spoke in the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom officers Association (AIGETOA) organized an event to hint at the BBNL and BSNL merger after an hourlong meeting with the union telecom minister.
“The government has taken a policy decision that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level is going to come to BSNL,” Purwar said
BSNL has a 6.8 lakh kilometer of optical fiber cable (OFC) network, which will be extended by 5.67 kilometers. This expansion will bring BSNL additional excess to 1.85 lakh village panchayats.
This possibility of the merger is not favored by the BBNL employees. The reason is the non-performance of BSNL on the Bharatnet project. BSNL also has dues and pending dues to be paid, which will fall on the shoulders of BBNL with this merger.
The merger will also help save funds on the amount paid to lay optical fiber by BSNL. BSNL is strict on making the merger possible by March so that the 4G facility can be tested by the later months to start supplying from May and June month.
"The government's policy is to either perform or perish. The government wants to give BSNL a chance so that BSNL becomes a strategic asset. We have a responsibility to prove ourselves," said Purwar.
