The government has asked BSNL to act on its declining revenues and payment of quarterly licence fee to the public exchequer.

The government has asked BSNL to act on its declining revenues and payment of quarterly licence fee to the public exchequer.

The public sector unit’s revenue dipped around 23 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year over the immediately preceding quarter. In 2007-08, BSNL’s licence fee payments up to the second quarter stood at Rs 12.65 billion against the annual budget estimate of Rs 28 billion, which is 45.19 per cent of the total licence fee. However, during the current financial year, the payments in the first two quarters amounted to only Rs 11.47 billion against the annual budget estimate of Rs 28.8 billion, which is around 40 per cent of the total licence fee. To add to its woes, the access deficit charge, which was paid by private operators to BSNL for subsidising rural telephony, has been discontinued.