A high level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and attended by BSNL CMD, MTNL CMD, Sam Pitroda and Union Communications Minister A Raja among others arrived at a consensus to offload 10 % stake in BSNL through listing. Effectively it means the privatization of BSNL, a move which earlier has been strongly opposed by the PSU’s Unions.

The financial performance of both BSNL and MTNL was also discussed in the meeting. The two PSUs have been witnessing declining market share month after month even as their private counterparts continue notching up large number of new subscribers.

The controversy surrounding BSNL’s 93 million mega GSM tender was also discussed in the meeting.

A Raja also called for exemption of annual licence fee for BSNL which will result in annual savings of about Rs 4,000 crore to the company. As a first step, licence fee for fixedline services in rural areas may be considered for exemption. This move alone can result in savings of about Rs 1,800 crore to the PSU.