BSNL to manage mobile services of MTNL in Delhi LSA from 1st April 2021: Prasad

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is all set to manage mobile services of sister company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) in Delhi Licensed Service Area (LSA) from 1st April, 2021. The statement was made by Minister of Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad in Rajya Sabha today.

The statement is in line with the Parliamentary Committee Report released earlier this month wherein the Committee was briefed of the impending take over of MTNL’s wireless services in Delhi and Mumbai LSA by BSNL from 1st April 2021. Prasad’s statement in Rajya Sabha however only mentioned Delhi LSA skipping Mumbai LSA.

MTNL currently operates wirless services in Delhi and Mumbai LSA. While BSNL is eventually expected to takeover wireless service from MTNL in both the circles, whether it takes over Mumbai LSA from 1st April 2021 is unclear.

The Goverment has undertaken close co-operation and service integration between state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). The Group of Ministers had deferred the MTNL-BSNL merger in January 2021 due to financial reasons including the high debt of MTNL.

BSNL has also been allocated 4G spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai LSA in place of MTNL. The telecom service provider will get the reserved spectrum formally once it is close to starting 4G services.