BSNL to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh circle

Hyderabad: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has started the bifurcation process of the Andhra Pradesh circle into AP and Telangana.

Assistant general manager J.K. Mishra from the BSNL headquarters has issued a circular to AP circle chief general manager P.V. Muralidhar directing shifting the BSNL’s AP circle to Vijayawada and creating a new circle for Telangana.

Mr Mishra has sought information about working connections of landline, broadband, Wimax, mobile, WLL etc. along with revenue for 2015-16.

For the first time in the history of the AP circle, BSNL had made more than Rs 100 crore profit, in 2015-16. The circle has 96 lakh mobile connections – 63.5 lakh in Andhra Pradesh and 32.5 lakh in Telangana.

An official source from BSNL’s central office at Delhi said that there would no difficulties in bifurcating the circle. “BSNL is a central-run organisation and all staff is subject to Central service rules. They must work at any circle in the country. There will be no protest from staff over the bifurcation process. Class-IV employees will work in their own state,” he said.

The source said the process of bifurcation would be completed in a month and shifting might be done in three months. “The existing buildings in Telangana will come under TS circle. The AP circle has the required buildings but needs to construct its headquarters. In the initial stage, the headquarters will be run from the existing buildings at Vijayawada,” the source said.

Asked about imposition of roaming charges after the circle was divided, Mr Muralidhar said, “No roaming charges will be imposed on mobile users in both states on par with the private operators.”