BSNL Yet to Clear Rs 1,500 Crore Payment to Taipa
“Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has urged the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for urgent intervention and support in clearing the dues of their infrastructure provider members for maintaining round the clock continuity of telecom operations at BSNL tower sites,” the body in a statement said, as reported by ET Telecom. For the unaware, Taipa is based out of Delhi and it represents firms such as Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers, American Tower Corporation (ATC), GTL Infrastructure, Applied Solar Technologies and TowerVision. Because of non-clearance of payments, Taipa stated that it would be tough for the infrastructure providers to provide smooth services. This will ultimately result in the service disruption of telecom operators. Taipa also stated that the payments would be used in making rental payments of tower sites as well as power bills. Taipa also reached out to BSNL stating that the telco has to clear dues so that it can ensure smooth operations. “The situation has become highly critical now with total outstanding dues from BSNL amounting to Rs 1500 crore which has been pending for long,” TR Dua, Director-General, Taipa said. BSNL is facing severe financial crunch but the telco should provide proper services to the subscribers during this lockdown period in India.
