State-owned telecom companies are incurring losses inproviding high-speed Wi-Fi connections to members of Parliament, Union Ministerfor Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ravi ShankarPrasad said.
As per data availablewith the Telecom Ministry till May 2019, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited(MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have provided an aggregate of757 Internet connections to members of Parliament.
All connections are high-speed Wi-Fi Fibre to the Home(FTTH) connections. The MTNL alone has provided 728 of these connections.
According to theMTNL, on each Wi-Fi connection (ranging from three to six numbers) provided toMPs during 2015-16, it incurred an average cost of Rs 1.7 lakh, includingannual maintenance charges for four years after three years warranty. But thecharges levied upon individual MPs for each Wi-Fi connection was Rs 1,500 permonth, excluding GST.
The BSNL said each FTTH connection to MPs cost the companyRs 25,000, but it could charge them only Rs 2,200 per month, exclusive of GSTfor the services.
While the MTNL offers speeds of 100 Mbps up to 500 GB and 10Mbps thereafter, the BSNL offers connections at a speed of 10 Mbps. The twocorporations have received a cumulative number of 1,054 complaints in the lasttwo years.
