BSNL Employees Oppose Second Round of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS)
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) employee union has strongly opposed the company’s decision to implement another round of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). The union has called on BSNL’s Board of Directors to withdraw the decision, citing concerns over the company’s management and policies. Recently, there have been reports that government is planning to provide VRS to employees of BSNL and DOT has requested Finance Ministry to provide approval for it. Read: 19,000 BSNL Employees may be provided VRS.
As of March 2024, BSNL employs 29,750 executives and 26,435 non-executives. The union, in a letter to A. Robert J Ravi, Chief Managing Director of BSNL, stated that the company’s financial issues are not due to its workforce size but rather the management’s inability to improve revenue generation. The union urged the management to reconsider the second VRS, emphasizing that the decision could worsen the company’s already strained situation.
The union also highlighted the impact of BSNL’s first VRS in 2020, when approximately 80,000 employees opted for voluntary retirement instead of the expected 30,000 to 35,000. This large-scale reduction in workforce led to a significant decline in service quality, particularly in landline and broadband services. The union noted that after outsourcing the maintenance of landline and broadband connections, BSNL’s landline services have nearly disappeared, with Jio emerging as the largest landline provider using optical fiber technology. Despite having the largest optical fiber network, BSNL has struggled to match Jio’s success.
The union further pointed out that BSNL’s Fiber to the Home (FTTH) service, once considered the best, is now facing widespread disconnections due to poor service quality. The union had proposed that BSNL should take over the provisioning and maintenance of FTTH connections, but the management rejected this idea, citing a shortage of staff.
Another issue raised by the union is BSNL’s limited access to international vendors for its 4G and 5G equipment. While private operators like Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea are allowed to procure equipment from global vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung, BSNL is restricted to purchasing from Indian vendors. The union argued that this policy creates an unfair disadvantage for BSNL, preventing it from competing on equal terms with private operators.
The union also referred to a recommendation from the Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings, which advised BSNL to seek assistance from foreign technology companies to address its challenges in deploying TCS’s 4G equipment.
Additionally, the union noted that many customers who switched to BSNL after private operators raised tariffs are now leaving due to the company’s poor mobile service. BSNL’s high salary expenditure, reportedly 38% of its revenue, was also criticized by the union, which claimed that this figure is misleading. The union argued that while private operators like Jio and Airtel have much higher revenues, their salary expenditure is a smaller percentage of their income.
Despite receiving multiple revival packages since 2019, BSNL has struggled to significantly increase its revenue, according to the union.
