PSU banks seek 24-hour phone lines from BSNL, MTNL

Indian Banks Association (IBA) has initiated talks with state-run telecom majors BSNL and MTNL for providing 24-hour connectivity to PSU banks as part of their drive to become e-savvy and compete with foreign and private banks.

"Banks are facing problems of breakdown of branch operations due to the failure of telecom lines," a finance ministry official said.

Leased lines were not available at many centres, which prevent banks from providing real time gross settlement (RTGS) facilities, he added.

ISDN back-up links were also not available at many locations due to infrastructure constraints of BSNL.

BSNL and MTNL also do not guarantee any "up time" for connectivity as they do not enter into any service level agreement with the banks.