All 7 PSUs will work together: Department of Telecommunications

All the PSUs and organisations under it will be able to work together in synergy and address many business opportunities arising in the country following the recommendations incorporated in the plan, DoT said.

The plan covers Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Indian Telephone Industries Ltd (ITI), Centre for Development of Telematics (CDOT), Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL), Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipments (TEC) and BharatNet (BBNL).

The recommendations of the strategic plan - the work on which began in January 2016 - included effective utilisation of human resource through training, optimal utilisation of vacant spaces in lands and buildings and promoting ‘Make in India’ by taking advantage of preferential market access government policy, it said.

Also, the PSUs will refrain from filing legal cases against each another, and if needed, the DoT will intervene to resolve disputes. “We have moved beyond just words in this initiative (synergy). We have identified specific areas that our teams will work upon - training of manpower, settlement of legal issues, and utilisation of vacant spaces - to demonstrate the true value of synergy,”Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said here. “I am pleased to see the focus on clearly defined timelines and performance indicators. These should lend our efforts a sense of purpose, and also aid in effective monitoring of the progress that the teams are making,” he said. Sinha said it was critical that tangible and substantive progress was made towards this initiative in six months. “I assume the review mechanisms set up by DoT will keep all our plans on track, in terms of timelines as well as quality of outcomes,” he added. 

The telecom PSUs exchanged a couple of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between various PSUs under the strategic plan, like the MoU between ITI and TCIL for use of manufacturing capacity of optical fibre cables of Tamilnadu Telecommunications Limited (TTL). 

Others included s MoU among TCIL, ITI and C-DoT for export of products and services to foreign markets, and between MTNL, ITI and C-DoT for delivery of Internet of Things and smart city projects.