Even as the state-owned telecom operator's expenditure and income both fell by thousands of crores, BSNL was able to shave ₹1 crore off of its losses compared to the previous financial year in 2017–18. That represents just a 0.02% change, from ₹4,786 crore to ₹4,785 crore. The government disclosed the change in a Lok Sabha answer to MPs Kaushalendra Kumar and Devusinh Chauhan. The numbers are gloomy for BSNL, which spends around half of its earnings on salaries to employees. Compare that to Airtel, whose employee benefit expenses only amounted to a little under 5% of revenue in Q1FY19. More than that, the telco is also being affected by the price war among telcos following Jio's entry. MTNL also in losses The other state-owned telco, MTNL, is also in losses. MTNL operates only in Mumbai and Delhi in India, and in Mauritius, so its scale of cash flow is significantly lower than that of BSNL. Interestingly, MTNL's losses have remained completely unchanged, while their spending and income have reduced by the hundreds of crores. How govt helped BSNL, MTNL stay afloat "Since BSNL has incurred losses consecutively for the last three years, [it] has been declared as “Incipient Sick” as per the guidelines of Department of Public Enterprises (DPE)," Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said in the parliamentary reply. "Accordingly, action has been initiated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for preparation of revival/restructuring plan of BSNL." Sinha attached a detailed list of financial assistance given to BSNL and MTNL in loan…
