BSNL may ink agreements with private operators to revive its manufacturing facilities

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) may tie-up with private operators to revive seven of its manufacturing facilities.

BSNL’s seven factories, located at Jabalpur, Richhai, Bhilai, Kolkata, Gopalpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai, manufacture a range of telecom products, including SIM cards, telecom towers, telecom poles, modems, pay phones and accessories. These facilities lack the technological know-how to compete with global hardware majors.

It is believed that the operator may lease out the land, sheds, machines and workforce at these locations to private operators.  

Prior to this, in 2006, BSNL had attempted to revive its Kolkata-based manufacturing facility by tying up with various telecom equipment manufacturers. The proposed joint venture involved manufacturing a million CDMA-based mobile handsets and an equal number of fixed wireless telephones. This attempt, however, was unsuccessful.