(a) whether the restructuring of MTNL and BSNL, has been withheld;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(
(c) whether the customers of MTNL and BSNL are facing difficulties to get the network
during morning and evening peak hours;
(d) if so, whether the Government has made any investigation to find out the factors
responsible in this regard;
(e) if so, the details thereof; and
(f) the action taken/being by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)
(a) & (b) Sir, a consortium of consultants led by M/s ICICI Securities, appointed by the
Government to advise and aid the Government in restructuring of MTNL and BSNL for achieving
higher synergies in their operations, has suggested some options for restructuring. Since the
enabling conditions for the suggested options are not appropriate enough to lead to a successful
merger and considering the complexity of the issues involved, the restructuring of BSNL and MTNL
has been put on hold for the time being.
(c) to (f) Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) based Cellular Mobile Telephone
Service being provided by BSNL is working satisfactorily and is, in general, meeting the Quality
of Service (QoS) parameters prescribed by TRAI even during time constraint busy hours. However,
sometimes during peak hours in some States especially in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and
North East Region, congestion has been observed in the network due to heavy traffic as well as
constraint of capacity of switch/ media. Optical Fiber Cable cut is also a factor in disruption
in BSNL network due to mainly road widening / digging work being done all over India. BSNL is
progressively augmenting its GSM mobile network which is also being continuously optimized.
Monitoring of the network has been strengthened to ensure performance as per the QoS parameters
prescribed by TRAI.
MTNL network services are satisfactory. There were some temporary congestion in the
cellular mobile network due to upgradation and capacity expansion of 750K lines in MTNL Delhi
which has now been commissioned and network is working satisfactorily.
Most of the Optical Fiber System are auto-protected through ring management. The Network
Management Systems (NMS) which is an online monitoring mechanism is installed for monitoring of
switches as well as transmission system. Performance of the network is monitored on a continuous
basis and necessary actions are taken.