NEWS in Hindu

NEW DELHI, March 11, 2010

BSNL employees to oppose Pitroda panel report
SANDEEP JOSHI
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To launch country-wide protest to stop government from “destroying” public sector

giant

Amid reports that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) management may have
agreed to the Sam Pitroda-led committee's recommendation for restructuring the
telecom major, which includes trimming of BSNL's workforce and allowing 30 per cent
disinvestment, its employees have decided to launch a nation-wide agitation to stop the
government from “destroying” the public sector giant.

Starting next week, BSNL's 15 employees' unions have decided to protest against the
Board's decision. “We will hold dharnas at all BSNL offices across India on March 15 to
warn the government not to take any step that was detrimental to the interests of the
company and its employees,” V.A.N Namboodiri, Convener of the Joint Forum of
Executives and Non-Executives' Unions and Associations, told The Hindu.

SERVICES WILL NOT BE HIT

Stating that they would not disrupt services in their initial phase of protest, Mr.
Namboodiri said all the union leaders would meet in Delhi next week to decide their
future course of action.

“We also plan to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Communications and IT
Minister A. Raja to impress upon them not to implement the Pitroda Committee
recommendations as it will not only lead to destruction of a profitable PSU but also end
up creating monopoly of private players in the telecom market, which would hurt the
interest of Indian consumers,” he said.

Pointing out that the committee had increased the stake sale proposal from 10 to 30 per
cent and also recommended massive job cuts, Mr. Namboodiri alleged that the move
would hurt Indian consumers as BSNL has brought down tariffs.

“Similarly, there is no need to introduce VRS plan as over 10,000 employees are retiring
every year while no fresh recruitment is taking place, while other proposals will further
weaken the state-owned telecom firm.” he pointed out.
BSNL board approves Pitroda panel report on 30% stake sale
11 Mar 2010, 0519 hrs IST, Joji Thomas Philip & Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The board of state-owned telco BSNL on Wednesday

gave an in-principle approval to the Sam Pitroda committee report that called
for a 30% stake sale in the PSU, but said that the government should take the
final call on the quantum of stake to be divested. The board has now put the ball in
the government’s court asking it to decide on implementing the 15-point formula
recommended by the panel to revive the public sector company. 

“...we have asked the government to decide on the stake that has to be divested,”
BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal told ET after the board
meet. 

This marks the third instance of the BSNL board clearing the stake sale. Since
2007, BSNL has twice approved the proposal to divest 10% stake in the company
but the telco has been unable to go ahead with the same due to stiff opposition
from its employee unions. 

Earlier this month, the Sam Pitroda panel had recommended a strategic stake sale
and staff cut by a third to revive the flagging fortunes of state-owned BSNL. The
government should sell a 30% stake in the company through an IPO and also raise
funds from the sale of its infrastructure, such as signal towers and real estate,
Pitroda had said. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, worried about
the steep decline in BSNL’s profitability over the years, called in Pitroda to head a
committee with banker Deepak Parekh and telecom secretary PJ Thomas as
members and suggest measures for revival. 

While the Pitroda committee had recommended that the telco use the funds from
the share sale to retire about a third of its 3 lakh employees, through best
possible processes like voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and induct young
talent in technology and customer services, the board has again asked the
communications ministry to decide on the number of employees who should be
retired through this option. 

‘The board has accepted that select cadres in certain divisions can be given VRS,
but there has been no decision on the numbers. These will be finalised after
consultations,” Mr Goyal added. 
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Sam Pitroda"s Committee"s Report for BSNL-imp. Inf. by

Ashok Hindocha M-9426201999
Scrap GSM tender, go for service model: Pitroda panel to BSNL
www.bsnlnewsbyashokhindocha.blogspot.com M-9426201999
The Sam Pitroda committee has recommended that public sector Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Ltd (BSNL) scrap its Rs 30,000-crore tender to procure GSM equipment
for 92 million lines and switch instead to a managed services model on the lines of
its private rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar.
This is said to be one of the world’s biggest tenders in the category. As Ericsson
remains the sold bidder in the race, it violates the government’s procurement rules
that call for a tendering race and hence BSNL should not go ahead with the order,
the panel has said.
A controversy over the deal had started when intelligence agencies disqualified the
Chinese company Huawei from participating in the tender on security concerns
and Ericsson became the sole bidder.
BSNL sources said the committee has recommended that the company should
expand its network through the “outsourcing infrastructure” model.
Under this, the installation and maintenance of the networks is outsourced to
suppliers such as Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network and the payment is done
on the basis of actual usage of a network.
The operator makes very little upfront payment to the equipment supplier and can
divert funds to adding subscribers.
Communications Minister A. Raja, who confirmed the development, had wanted
that BSNL to place orders with Ericsson and had even approached Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh for this after an objection by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner,
the anti-corruption watchdog.
The two government nominees on the BSNL board also raised objections to
placing the order with Ericsson.
“The government decision of not allowing BSNL to procure Huawei equipment
has stalled the whole procurement process,” Raja told Hindustan Times. “Now, it
is claimed that Ericsson has become the single bidder, which is not true as Ericsson
was one of the four bidders when the bids were submitted bids.”
The Prime Minister referred the issue to the Sam Pitroda committee. Housing
Development Finance Corp (HDFC) Chairman Deepak Parekh and DoT Secretary
P.J. Thomas are other members of the committee.
“We are not aware of this report,” said BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal. “However,
we are prepared to meet the immediate needs of the company.”

www.bsnlnewsbyashokhindocha.blogspot.com M-9426201999