The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Anupam Shrivastava as the chairman & managing director of state-run telecom operator BSNL, reports PTI.
The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) had previously recommended (pdf) Shrivastava’s name for this position in December 2013 which was awaiting final approval from ACC. In July last year, AN Rai had been appointed as the interim CMD, taking over from RK Upadhyay who retired on June 30, 2014.
Shrivastava joined BSNL in May 2013 and had been serving as the director of consumer mobility. He has over three decades of experience in the field of telecommunications. Following the appointment, Shrivastava told PTI that his top priority will be turning BSNL into a profitable venture and to provide affordable connectivity. He also claimed that the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) roll out will be fast-tracked.
BSNL had posted a loss of Rs 7,085 crore for the financial year 2013-14 (FY14). It was BSNL’s fifth straight loss making fiscal and the telco had last reported a profit in FY09. In subsequent years, it has reported losses of Rs 1,823 crore in FY10, Rs 6,384 crore in FY11, Rs 8,851 crore in FY12 and Rs 7,884 crore in FY13.
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