Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is preparing a response to the Department of Expenditure (DoE), asserting that the alleged Rs 17.57 billion loss to the government due to non-billing of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) has been overstated.
In its rejoinder, BSNL is likely to state that its circles have already issued invoices worth Rs 1.08 billion to Jio and are actively pursuing recovery of the additional charges beyond the regular base rent paid by the private operator.
Further, BSNL maintains that the itemised rates agreed upon with Jio in April 2018 covered additional hardware and power for both time division duplex (TDD) and frequency division duplex (FDD) technologies beyond standard use. An addendum to the master service agreement (MSA) was signed on January 31, 2025, specifying the applicable charges for 4G TDD and FDD usage, following Jio’s consent.
Earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had reported that BSNL’s failure to bill RJIL for shared telecom infrastructure between 2016 and 2020 resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 17.57 billion. It also noted that non-compliance with the terms of the MSA, and failure to apply escalation clauses, led to a further loss of Rs 290 million (including GST) in infrastructure sharing charges.
