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State-owned telecom firms BSNL and MTNL have earned a total of Rs 12,984.86 crore from monetisation of land, buildings, tower and fibre since 2019, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. According to data shared by Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in Lok Sabha, BSNL has earned Rs 2,387.82 crore and MTNL Rs 2,134.61 crore up to January 2025 from monetisation of lands and buildings. "BSNL and MTNL are monetising only those land and building assets which are not required for their own use in the foreseeable future and for which it has the rights to transfer the ownership," Sekhar said in a written reply. BSNL has earned Rs 8,204.18 crore and MTNL Rs 258.25 crore from monetisation of close assets comprising tower and fibre up to January 2025, as per the reply. "Monetisation of assets are being done as per approved policy of the Government and its impact on the PSUs are being monitored closely," Sekhar said.
State-owned telecom giant BSNL has added subscribers in every single month in the last quarter and its subscriber base has grown by 50-60 lakhs as it scripts a turnaround story after recording operating profit in the last two years, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Wednesday. Speaking at Express Adda, he said Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is offering telephone services in remotest village and a network upgrade is improving its service. In June last year, the Union cabinet had approved an Rs 89,047 crore revival package for loss-making state-owned telecom operator deploy 4G and 5G services in a market dominated by private players. Debt-laden BSNL, grappling with poor infrastructure, had posted losses for the past 12 years. "In terms of financials, yes, BSNL was bleeding. But in the last 2 years, we have had a positive EBITDA. So we are not in the red on EBITDA," he said. While EBIDTA is positive, its bottomline was still in red. The minister did not say when the