The employee unions of the Bhartiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will be going on an indefinite strike in protest against Reliance Jio’s predatory pricing. Lead by the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB), this strike will be effective from December 03. The employees have accused the government of favoring Reliance Jio and turning a blind eye to its sub-standard rates. The employees at BSNL believe that Reliance Jio is responsible for financial desolation in the telecom industry.
BSNL Accuses the Government of Not Allocating Spectrum for 4G Expansion
We earlier reported that the government has given a heading to the allotment of 2100MHz spectrum and BSNL was to get some for its 4G services. However, the recent claims reveal that the government is allegedly keeping BSNL away from the spectrum allotment to stunt the competition for Reliance Jio. BSNL further claims that Reliance Jio, with the support of government, is getting rid of the other telecom operators to establish dominance. Folks at BSNL, also believe that Mukesh Ambani-owned telco is scheming to phase out the competition first and then increase the pricing suddenly.
Furthermore, AUAB says that whoever tried raising a voice against Jio, had to pay a ‘price’. It is also reminiscent of the time when the former telecom secretary, J. S Deepak contacted TRAI for reprimanding Reliance Jio against its acquisitive pricing. Not only Deepak did not receive a proper response, but he was also pulled out of DoT and named India’s ambassador to WTO. The unions believe that the government is gouging money from the state-run telco for contribution in pension, which is costing the company its financial wellness.
Reliance Jio is silent over the issue and has not commented on the allegations, which could be lethal to the company’s reputation. Speaking of lethal, BSNL unions have also blamed Jio for being responsible for the unfortunate shut down of telcos like Telenor and Aircel. Unions believe that Jio has a strong financial and political backup to offer services at aggressive prices. In fact, the government is often seen advocating the telecom operator. These are some really serious accusations and BSNL’s points appear mostly fitting. There has been no comments from the PMO India’s office either.
Demands of the Protesters
The unions have put forth their demands in order to come to a truce. They want an immediate allocation of the spectrum for BSNL so that it can carry out its 4G services. They want government rule implementation as a respectful acknowledgment of BSNL’s contribution to the pension payment. In addition to this, they are demanding wage revision of the existing workers and pension updates for those who have retired.
The unions claim that BSNL was in a major loss back in 2011 but the telco managed to post operational profits of over INR 672.57 crore in the financial year of 2014. These figures are the result of combined efforts made by the management and the employees and today, the state-run telco is putting up a great fight for the private telcos. BSNL’s user base has significantly increased over the past couple of years. Incidentally, BSNL has attained all this without any 4G services. The company is still waiting for the spectrum allotment. BSNL has already started soft-launching it in some areas, but the full-fledged launch seems far-fetched now. The telecom operator has been testing the 4G services on its current spectrum only. Let’s see how long the government takes to fabricate a response for the outrage.
The post BSNL Revolts Against Reliance Jio: Employees Call for Strike Against Jio’s Predatory Pricing appeared first on MySmartPrice.
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