DOT announces "strategic plan" to bring synergy among seven PSU

The Department of Telecom today announced a "strategic plan" to bring synergy among the seven public sector units (PSUs) under it - BSNL, MTNL, BBNL, TVIL, ITI, C-DoT, and TEC.

Speaking on the occasion, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said that the public sector companies have a very strategic role to play by nurturing and enhancing the Government's intervention capabilities in matters of protection of consumer interests, disaster management, national security, international relations, execution of bilateral projects funded by Government of India and flagship programmes of the Government of India.

He highlighted the strengths of various PSUs BSNL, MTNL, BBNL, TCIL, ITI and other organizations like TEC & C-DoT. He further emphasized that to face competition in the market, to address new business opportunities arising from Government initiatives like Digital India and Smart city, for optimum utilization of their resources for maximum benefit and profitability; they need to work in synergy.

He also cited the examples of BharatNet and the turnaround of ITI as very good illustrations of synergy among the PSUs.

Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary (Telecom) stressed that synergy among the PSUs is one of the major policy issues being addressed in the National Telecom Policy. She made a mention of areas where the public sector organizations can work together, especially in big projects like setting up semiconductor fabrication facility in the country due to huge investment needs. Such projects are possible with synergy, not only among the PSUs of DoT but also among the PSUs of different Ministries like Defence, Telecom, IT and Urban Development, in which PSUs share the costs and risks of execution, while Government plays a supporting role.