How BSNL's 'Reliance Jio mistake' may have cost the government Rs 1,757 crore

The government reportedly suffered a loss of Rs 1,757.56 crore as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) failed to bill Reliance Jio for 10 years since May 2014 as per their agreement on passive infrastructure sharing. According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) released this week, the government incurred this significant financial loss due to the billing failure of the state-owned telecom company BSNL.The CAG report, as reported by the news agency PTI, further claims that BSNL suffered an additional loss of Rs 38.36 crore by not deducting the license fee share from the revenue distributed to Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIPs).The CAG statement highlighted BSNL's negligence in enforcing the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL), stating, "BSNL failed to enforce the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with M/s. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) and did not bill for the additional technology used on BSNL's shared passive infrastructure, resulting in loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore and penal interest thereon, between May 2014 to March 2024 to the government exchequer."Moreover, the CAG pointed out BSNL's shortcomings in billing for passive infrastructure sharing charges. "Non-adherence to the terms and conditions laid down in the MSA with RJIL by BSNL and non-application of the escalation clause resulted in a loss of revenue of Rs 29 crore (including GST) towards infrastructure sharing charges," the statement added.Recently, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for telecom, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said that BSNL has awarded purchase orders for one lakh 4G sites out of which 83,993 sites have been installed and 74,521 are on air as on March 8. "The revenue of BSNL is impacted due to delay in rollout of 4G services as well as stiff competition in the mobile segment," the minister said.