SRINAGAR: The Government of India has told the Lok Sabha that more than Rs 2.54 lakh crore has already been spent on reviving Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited over the past decade, through a series of large-scale financial and operational intervention packages aimed at stabilising the public-sector telecom operator.
In a detailed statement placed before the House on December 10, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said the combined revival measures have enabled BSNL to return to operating profit from the financial year 2020–21, even as the company undertakes its largest-ever nationwide 4G rollout.
According to the Ministry, the revival effort began with the 2019 package of about Rs 69,000 crore that helped reduce BSNL’s operating costs. This was followed in 2022 by a significantly larger Rs 1.64 lakh crore package focused on capital infusion, debt restructuring, and viability gap funding for rural telephony. In 2023, the Government approved the administrative allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum worth nearly Rs 89,000 crore. Earlier this year, an additional Rs 6,982 crore was cleared to support BSNL’s 4G rollout across all circles.
The Ministry said the Rs 2.54 lakh crore utilised so far has gone into major expenditure heads including the voluntary retirement scheme, settlement of adjusted gross revenue liabilities, spectrum allotment for 2G and 4G/5G, viability gap funding, and ongoing capital expenditure. The operational merger of MTNL with BSNL continues but does not involve any direct financial outgo.
The Centre told the House that although BSNL had posted losses for several years, the revival interventions have helped the PSU earn operating profit from 2020–21 onward.
A key part of the revival narrative is BSNL’s rapid 4G expansion using indigenous technology under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. The operator has installed 97,401 4G sites nationwide, of which 94,458 are already on air as of November 30, 2025. The deployed equipment is 5G upgradable.
In Jammu and Kashmir, BSNL has installed 1,697 4G towers and commissioned 1,624 of them, while Ladakh has 383 installations and 304 sites operational. The Government acknowledged delays in the nationwide 4G and forthcoming 5G rollout but attributed them to the scale of modernisation and the shift to a fully domestic technology stack.
The Minister said the revival packages demonstrate the Government’s commitment to keeping BSNL central to India’s telecom infrastructure, especially for rural connectivity, strategic communication requirements, and the development of an indigenous technology ecosystem.
