BSNL May Not Sell Towers as 4G, 5G Rollout Looms

With a major network rollout on the cards, the government is not keen to change the existing pattern of tower monetization for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), officials at the state-owned telecom-service provider said.

- SUBHAYAN CHAKRABORTY

The monetization target in the telecom sector had to be revised owing to a change in BSNL's approach to mobile phone tower monetization, which had shifted from a sale-based model to a lease-based one.

This had been pointed out in an inter-ministerial meeting of secretaries, part of the core group of secretaries on asset monetization (CGAM), chaired by the Cabinet secretary in August, Business Standard had earlier reported. The CGAM had since then pulled up BSNL for its slow pace of asset monetization, and for missing its monetization targets, multiple times, people in the know said.

But officials said the telco would continue to monetize non-essential assets that would not be required in the foreseeable future.