New Delhi: The entire officers and workers of BSNL, under the banner of All Unions and Associations (AUAB), the umbrella organisation of all the associations, are going on an indefinite nationwide strike   from Dec.3.

Demands of the strike include the immediate allotment of 4G spectrum to BSNL for rolling out its 4G service, implementation of the government rule in respect of payment of pension contribution by BSNL, wage revision of the employees and pension revision of the retirees, from  January 1, 2017.

Blaming Reliance Jio for financial woes of the telecom sector, they accused that the whole telecom industry is gripped in a crisis. Big private companies like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are running in huge losses. These companies are also laden with massive debts. The total debt of these telecom companies is in the range of Rs.8 lakh crore. All these have happened due to the predatory pricing of the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, which started its services in September, 2016.

AUAB said the public sector firm has been demanding allotment of 4G spectrum but “the government has turned a deaf ear to this demand, with the ulterior motive of preventing the public sector company from putting up an effective competition to Reliance Jio.”

Apart from the allotment of 4G spectrum, the AUAB is also demanding the implementation of the government’s rule in the matter of BSNL’s payment of pension contribution.

“It is atrocious that, the Narendra Modi government is violating it’s own rule, and is fleecing a huge amount from BSNL every year, in the name of Pension Contribution. This is seriously affecting the financial health of the Company,” the Unions said.