NEW DELHI, July 13
The government has appointed Robert Jerard Ravi as the new BSNL chairman and managing director (CMD) for a period of six months. Ravi is currently appointed as deputy director general, standards, research and innovation at the department of telecommunications (DoT). He will hold additional charge as CMD BSNL, CMD MTNL, and CMD BBNL effective July 15, according to a notification by DoT.
Ravi will replace PK Purwar, whose tenure is expiring on July 14. Purwar assumed charge as BSNL CMD in July 2019. During the period of holding additional charge, Ravi will not be entitled to any additional remuneration, the government notification said. Among key tasks, the new BSNL CMD will have to expedite 4G services rollout, move towards 5G launch, and improve the financial position of the telecom operator. Besides, restricting subscriber churn of BSNL, market share improvement, implementation of phase-3 of BharatNet, managing operations of MTNL, among others, will be key tasks for Ravi.Currently, BSNL has a 7.5% mobile subscribers market share, with 86.8 million subscribers, according to data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Ravi, who is an Indian Telecommunication Service (ITS) officer, served as additional general manager in BSNL from 2005 to 2011, where he looked after the enterprise business of the company. He has held positions such as advisor to Trai and also served as chief technology officer (CTO) to the government of Tamil Nadu.
The government has so far allocated over Rs 3.2 trillion for BSNL’s revival as part of three packages given in the years 2019, 2022 and 2023.
As per its agreement with the government based on the revival package, BSNL has a target to achieve 35,960 crore revenue from operations by 2027-28, a growth of 80% over20,008 crore estimated revenue in FY24. From FY25 to FY27, the aim is to grow revenue 20% year-on-year.In FY24, BSNL narrowed its net loss to Rs 5,367 crore from Rs 8,161 crore in FY23, on the back of lower expenses, especially finance cost, and higher non-operating income.
Revenue from operations grew 1% to 19,343.6 crore, missing the target of20,008 crore.
