BSNL's Rs 30,000-crore cash reserve plummets to Rs 2,500 crore in FY11

The reasons for this steep fall in cash reserves are payment of Rs 18,500 crore 
towards 3G spectrum and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum auction 
price and payment of Rs 5,301 crore to LIC towards group leave encashment 
scheme
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has informed the Parliament that state-run telecom firm 
BSNL''s cash reserve plummeted to Rs 2,500 crore in 2010- 2011 from Rs 30,000 crore 
two years back.
"As per the audited books of account, cash reserve of BSNL has gone down from Rs 
30,343 crore as on March 31, 2010 to Rs 2,500 crore on March 31, 2011," Telecom 
Minister Kapil Sibal told Lok Sabha in a written reply.
The reasons he attributed to this steep fall in cash reserves are payment of Rs 18,500 
crore towards 3G spectrum and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum auction 
price and payment of Rs 5,301 crore to LIC towards group leave encashment scheme.
Added to this is the Payment of Rs 2,900 crore on implementation of revised pay scale 
and Rs 392 crore in tax liabilities, he said.  
Sibal said that declining revenues and increasing expenditure also added to the burden.
He said that the state owned telco is facing fierce competition from private operators and 
decreasing average revenue per user accounted for decline in revenues, while increased 
expenditure resulted from large legacy work force whose wages accounted for 50 per 
cent of the revenue.
Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora in response to a question told 
the Parliament that BSNL has recovered Rs 988 crore against the outstanding dues 
which stood at Rs 5,231 crore as on November 30, 2011.
BSNL has sought continuation of support from the government towards rural wireline 
connections on phasing out of access deficit charge (ADC).
"Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (telecom regulator) has made an interim 
recommendation of Rs 600 crore as support," he said.
Sibal also said that consolidation of infrastructure, strengthening of revenue streams 
through focus on broadband and enterprise business, focus on customer care and push 
on data usage are some steps the company is taking in this regard.