Government Loses Over Rs 1,750 Crore Due to BSNL’s Failure to Bill Reliance Jio
CAG Audit Uncovers Financial Losses for the Government
BSNL-Reliance Jio Agreement and Unbilled Charges
The Union government has lost Rs 1,757.56 crore because BSNL did not bill Reliance Jio for almost a decade, despite a 2014 infrastructure sharing agreement. This information was discovered during a CAG audit.
- BSNL and Reliance Jio agreed to lease around 4,000 mobile towers in 2014.
- The deal included sharing passive infrastructure.
- BSNL did not enforce the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Reliance Jio.
- BSNL did not bill for additional technology used on its shared passive infrastructure.
CAG’s Role and Financial Impact
The CAG is responsible for auditing government accounts to ensure proper use of public funds. In this case, BSNL’s failure to bill Reliance Jio led to a loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore and penal interest from May 2014 to March 2024.
Additional Losses for BSNL
Apart from the losses related to Reliance Jio, the CAG found that BSNL lost Rs 38.36 crore between 2019-’20 and 2021-’22. This loss happened because BSNL did not deduct license fees from the revenue share paid to telecom infrastructure providers.
Government Investment and Cumulative Losses
The government has invested Rs 38,886.44 crore in BSNL as of March 2023. However, due to mistakes by the state-owned telecom firm, a total loss of Rs 1,944.92 crore has been recorded.
