Govt agrees to bail out BSNL and MTNL; PMO seeks revival plan: Report

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has in principle agreed to bail out state-owned telecom firms MTNL and BSNL by addressing three issues.

The PMO, in a meeting with telecom and finance ministries and Niti Ayog a few days ago, asked the department of telecom (DoT) to make a plan for allocating the firms 4G spectrum, grant them immediate financial aid and frame a voluntary retirement scheme for employees, according to an official source.

“The government has taken a decision that both MTNL and BSNL have to be revived and sustained in a healthy manner. (A) senior officer from PMO held a meeting with DoT, finance ministry and Niti Aayog in which it has been decided that DoT will submit a detailed roadmap at the earliest to concerned authorities for the revival of MTNL and BSNL,” the source told PTI.