BBNL pays Rs 770 cr to BSNL for clearing vendor dues in BharatNet Project

Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited, a state-run infrastructure firm that is setting up optical fibre network under BharatNet Project, has paid around Rs 770 crore in advance to BSNL to help the telecom firm clear dues of vendors involved in the project.

The debt-ridden state-run telecom firm had requested BBNL to pay Rs 1,033 crore earlier this month to clear the dues of vendors engaged in BharatNet project.

Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) had allocated around 70 per cent of rural broadband network roll-out work to BSNL.

“BSNL had requested payment of Rs 1,033 crore out of which around Rs 770 crore has been cleared by BBNL,” a government official told PTI.