TelecomLive January-2019

MTNL Telecom LIVE January 2019 15 www.telecomlive.com spectrum as Rs 14,586 crore, which it wants DoT to give in the form of government's equity in BSNL. The minister has stated that the demand for additional spec- trum is under consideration. MTNL losses from 2009-10 onwards. The earnings of MTNL and the expenditure on salary and allow- ances of officers and employees during the last ten years is given in table-1. One of the major reasons for losses of MTNL is that its service revenue is declining due to intense competition resulting into cut throat tariffs and inability of MTNL to infuse capital expendi- ture to upgrade its network. MTNL's revenue has declined. It was Rs 5,250 crore in FY09 which has come down by 40.65 per cent to Rs 3,116 crore in FY18. On the other hand, the employee cost has gone up marginally by 10.33 per cent, from Rs 2,217 crore in FY09 to Rs 2,446 crore in FY18. As a result of big decline in revenue and nominal increase in staff cost, the employee cost, as a percentage of revenue, now looks too high at 78.48 per cent in FY18 from 40.52 per cent in FY09. All private telecom operators are offering 4G services leading to churn in mobile segment. 4G Spectrum The telecom minister in his statement in the Parliament has stated that both BSNL and MTNL were given spectrum in 2100 MHz band, and to BSNL in 2500 MHz band, at market determined price and therefore they can deploy any technology including 4G services (table-2). BSNL has already started 4G services in a few circles. On the other hand, BSNL has also asked for additional spectrum for 4G services. It has asked 5 MHz in 2100 MHz band for all 22 circles except for Rajasthan circle where the spectrum in this band is not available. Instead, for Rajasthan, it has asked 5 MHz in the 800 MHz band. It has esti- mated the cost of this additional MTNL In last 10 years, revenue down by 40.65 pc and staff cost up by 10.33 pc Table-1: MTNL financials & Staff cost (Rs cr) Sl FY Revenue Expense Staff Cost Rs cr % of Rev 1 2008-09 5,250 5,039 2,127 40.52 2 2009-10 5,058 7,669 4,966 98.19 3 2010-11 3,992 6,794 3,247 81.34 4 2011-12 3,624 7,734 3,712 102.40 5 2012-13 3,714 9,035 4,901 131.97 6 2013-14 3,787 7,086 2,615 69.06 7 2014-15 3,821 6,714 2,653 69.44 8 2015-16 3,513 5,518 2,637 75.07 9 2016-17 3,552 6,523 2,648 74.53 10 2017-18 3,116 6,087 2,446 78.48 Table-2: Spectrum holding for 4G services (MHz) Sl Service Area 2100 2500 Total BSNL BSNL MTNL BSNL 1 Delhi 0 10 0 0 2 Mumbai 0 10 0 0 3 Andhra Pradesh 10 0 0 10 4 Gujarat 10 0 0 10 5 Karnataka 10 0 0 10 6 Kolkata 10 0 0 10 7 Maharashtra 10 0 0 10 8 Tamil Nadu 10 0 0 10 9 Assam 10 0 20 30 10 Bihar 10 0 20 30 11 Haryana 10 0 20 30 12 Himachal Pradesh 10 0 20 30 13 Jammu & Kashmir 10 0 20 30 14 Kerala 10 0 20 30 15 Madhya Pradesh 10 0 20 30 16 North East 10 0 20 30 17 Orissa 10 0 20 30 18 Punjab 10 0 20 30 19 Rajasthan 10 0 20 30 20 Uttar Pradesh (East) 10 0 20 30 21 Uttar Pradesh (West) 10 0 20 30 22 West Bengal 10 0 20 30