Govt Loses Rs 1757 Crore As BSNL Fails To Bill Reliance Jio For Using Their Infrastructure
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has revealed that the government suffered a loss of ₹1,757.56 crore due to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) failing to bill Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) for infrastructure sharing over a decade, from May 2014 to March 2024. This lapse occurred despite the existence of a Master Service Agreement (MSA) between BSNL and RJIL, which outlined terms for sharing BSNL’s passive infrastructure.
Failure to Enforce Billing Terms:
BSNL did not charge Reliance Jio for additional technologies like Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) used on BSNL’s shared passive infrastructure, as stipulated in the MSA.
This resulted in direct revenue losses of ₹1,757.56 crore, including penal interest.
Additional Revenue Losses:
BSNL incurred an additional loss of ₹38.36 crore by failing to deduct its share of license fees from payments made to Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIPs).
Non-adherence to escalation clauses in the MSA led to another ₹29 crore loss (including GST) in infrastructure sharing charges.
Contractual and Financial Mismanagement:
The CAG highlighted lapses in enforcing the MSA terms and conditions, raising concerns about BSNL’s financial management and operational oversight.
The findings expose significant gaps in BSNL’s governance and contract enforcement practices, leading to substantial revenue leakages in the state-owned telecom sector. Industry experts suggest that stricter oversight and reforms in BSNL’s operational policies are necessary to prevent such losses in the future. The government has yet to issue a formal response to these observations.
